


Out of the Blue

by crispyCh0colate



Series: Changing Tides [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bill is hella ace, Dipper is too sassy for his own good, M/M, Pirate!Bill, Siren!Dipper, a crew full of assholes, no sirens were harmed in the production of this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-09 03:44:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 50,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4332591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crispyCh0colate/pseuds/crispyCh0colate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dipper Pines decides that hunting on his own is a good idea he quickly discoveres that not every human is vulnerable to his song. He also finds that pirate ships are full of lunatics and being stuck with the (way too good looking) Captain Bill Cipher will probably drive him to insanity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Aboard

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sister-fic to Off the deep End by Marshonthemellow, who helped me with the plot and the general idea!
> 
> Here is a picture that atcually inspired the whole thing, drawn by me: http://crispych0colate.tumblr.com/post/123933721105/hehehe-guess-who-is-writing-another-siren

The night was serene and the ocean lay almost still. There were no clouds in the sky and a bright full moon shone down onto the glistening water. This would have been an absolutely perfect night, if Dipper Pines wasn't so hungry.

The young siren hadn't gotten anything substantial to eat for days because no ship had gotten close to his colonies' hunting grounds. He was pretty sure that most humans knew of the danger and now avoided the place. This was especially frustrating, since the sirens had to fight other predatory animals for precious fish too. And those weren't as easily fought off as humans. 

Sometimes they would get in a massive fight with a pod of dolphins and a confrontation like that could end deadly. Luckily, Dipper didn't have to face a dolphin yet.

The boy made a frustrated clicking noise as he could feel his stomach beg for food and decided to pay the surface a visit. He always liked looking at the stars and their numerous constellations when the sky was clear. 

Both Stanford and Stanley, his and his hatch-mate Mabel's tutors, would be furious if they knew that he was going to the surface alone again.

It was a rule among the sirens that they would only go hunting together, because it was much less dangerous. But Dipper didn't really care. He wasn't worried about anything on the surface, especially not humans. They were way too easy to trick anyway.

He broke the surface but only stuck his head out of the waves, water dripping from his brown locks and running down his face. He blinked twice to make his eyes adjust to air before he looked up at the sky. He smiled when he saw the constellation that gave him his name, due to a curious mark on his forehead, which not even Stanford could explain. And he was an expert with magic and omens.

Dipper didn't even know how long he had floated on the waves, observing the sky, but he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard water splash against wood. He immediately sunk below the surface again and concentrated on all the sounds around him. He got increasingly more excited when he saw the silhouette of a small row boat not too far away from him.

After hesitating for a moment he lifted his head just far enough out of the water to see if someone was actually in the boat. He was not disappointed to see a lone human figure, rowing their little boat towards the island that wasn't too far away. Dipper also quickly noticed a much bigger ship in the distance. That was probably where the man had come from. But that wasn't interesting to the siren right now.

He was debating with himself, whether he should swim back to get the others or if he should just catch the human himself. He was conflicted, because it'd be way easier with more backup, but eventually his stomach decided that he would just try it on his own. What could go wrong?

His flicked his tail as he dove beneath the waves again, making a quiet splashing sound, that should get the person's attention and then dove a little to the right of the boat before surfacing a few meter away from it. He could tell that the man inside was carefully glancing around the waves, indicating that his little trick had worked.

Dipper eyed him for a moment. The man had blonde hair with a few black streaks in the front and the back. He also seemed to be missing an eye, indicated by the piece of cloth he had strapped over his right eye. There was also something about him that set the Siren off, but he could not tell what exactly it was and his hunger was too great to really pay attention to his inner warning signals.

So he began to sing.

Granted, he wasn't as good as Mabel but still good enough to lure in any unsuspecting human. 

The man immediately whipped his head around and his one eye widened as he saw Dipper. The Siren put on a soft smile and carefully swam closer to the boat, never stopping with his song. The melody was melancholic, yet promising and was enough to put every person under his spell, regardless of the words. They were nothing but false promises of love and tenderness anyway.

As Dipper draw closer he could see that the man's eye color was a really light brown, almost gold and he was quite fascinated for a short moment, because he had never seen something like this. Though soon he'd be nothing but food.

By now the young Siren had reached the boat and looked up to the man, a soft and welcoming smile on his face, music still spilling from his lips.

The human stared down at him, seemingly in a trance and Dipper reached out to pull himself up a little, his arms resting on the side of the boat. The man leaned in and Dipper smirked inwardly.

He was so close to finally getting some real food. 

Just a few more inches.

And then a grin spread across the human's face and in a fast movement, that Dipper had not predicted, he grabbed the siren by the arms and just straight up pulled him into the boat.

Dipper let out a startled screeching sound as his back collided painfully with the hard wood of the small boat and his tail still hung a little awkwardly over the railing, at a slightly painful angle.

"What the hell?" He squeaked after a moment of feeling dizzy and adjusting to breathing with his actual lungs. He tilted his head backwards to glare up at the man with a slightly confused, but even more offended expression.

"Nice voice, kid. Not as nice as those scales of yours though." The man hummed and Dipper cringed a little. The guy's voice was slightly higher than he had anticipated and he just grinned down at Dipper, flashing a row of white teeth. He quickly grabbed the paddles and started rowing back towards his ship.

The Siren was still way too startled to actually panic and process what was happening.

"That's not how it's supposed to go! Why didn’t you fall for it?" He hissed instead and flicked his tail, wincing again at the painful sensation that ran through his lower body.

"Hah, I'm not interested in any of that seduction stuff, kid. Should've tried my crew instead. Those are all a bunch of thirsty suckers. Name's Bill Cipher by the way, Captain of the HMS Mindscape! Very nice to meet 'cha." Bill chimed and then laughed in a very obnoxious manner. It sent a chill down Dipper's spine.

"Ugh, what do you want from me? So it didn't work! Big deal. Just let me go." Dipper groaned and tried to prop himself up on his elbows. Water was running down his skin and he felt way too cold in the chilly night air. He had never been completely out of the water and it wasn't a very nice feeling.

"Sorry, lad. You're coming with me. Bet I can sell you for a fortune! Who needs a stupid chest of gold if you can bring back a real live siren!" Bill exclaimed and sounded way too giddy. That's when Dipper realized the danger of the situation.

"No!" He protested loudly and forced himself up, about to slip back over the railing and into the safe watery depth, but Bill grabbed him by the upper arm and pulled him into the boat completely. His grip was painful and he was much stronger than he actually looked.

Dipper's heart beat faster and only now did he notice that they had arrived at the giant ship.

"You're not going anywhere. So don't even try to fight it," Bill hissed in his ear, his voice now more threatening and dark.

A second later he yelled up to the ship, making Dipper flinch.

"Aye, pull me up, ya useless lot!" 

Dipper peered up to the ship where a few faces had appeared and he swallowed before composing himself. He started to sing and the movement on the ship stopped. It was always hard to concentrate on a song when one was nervous, but this was his only chance of escape.

He heard the captain huff next to him.

"Are we seriously doing that now? Shut yer maw, lad. This isn't getting you nowhere anyway," Bill grumbled but Dipper vehemently shook his head and continued.

It worked.

Well, until a hand pressed itself on his mouth and effectively shut him up. He blinked in surprise and glanced up at the pirate who now flashed him a dangerous grin. Dipper just glared back at him, seething.

He couldn't believe he was getting kidnapped by a human who just straight up refused to fall under his spell! Preposterous! 

"I will have you all keelhauled if you don't pull me up there immediately!" Bill addressed his crew, who were gaining back their free will and, after a bit of panicked scuffling, they finally lowered the ropes to pull the small boat back up.

It was a few agonizing slow moments and Dipper felt his stomach drop as the distance between him and the ocean, his home, just grew bigger and bigger. He held back a sob, refusing to show how pained and scared he really was. It would be a fatal mistake to show anything but resistance. Never once did the Captain let go of his mouth, making singing himself to freedom impossible.

Dipper blinked a few tears away and instead opted to glare at the crew as soon as they came into sight. He didn't have much time to inspect them before Bill just wrapped his second arm around his waist and lifted him up, then proceeded to jump onto the deck of his pirate ship. 

The siren could hear the crew gasp in shock and he contemplated just biting Bill's hand, but the man's grip on his face tightened, as if he had read his thoughts. 

"Don't just stand there, starin' like a bunch of meat sacks and get the biggest basin we have! Bring it into my Cabin and fill it with water, as quick as you can! Gleeful! Get someone to hoist up the anchor, we're leaving." Bill barked out orders and the crew scattered as soon as the last word had left his mouth.

Dipper struggled in Cipher's grasp but the pirate just chuckled and strode towards his cabin, as if it was nothing. And it probably was, because Dipper felt exhausted and weak. Being out of the water took a huge toll on him and breathing through his nose was hard. 

He didn't even last long enough to see the inside of the cabin before he felt himself passing out.

Everything went black.


	2. Displacement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I lied. You get a new chapter today already. Because I already wrote 3 and 4 as well. Go me!
> 
> Also check out this great fanart!!  
> http://lucilequiquempois.tumblr.com/post/124103396862/marshonthemellow-siren-aus-will-be-my-end-here
> 
> And some art from me:  
> http://crispych0colate.tumblr.com/post/124163852600/more-sketches-for-my-fanfic-out-of-the-blue

The feeling of being back in the water was the first thing Dipper's brain registered when he regained his consciousness. This was all that his body needed to know and he moved his tail before he managed to open his eyes. This turned out to be a mistake, because he hit his tail hard on the bottom of whatever he was in. 

He sat straight up with a startled scream escaping his mouth and he curled in on himself as pain pulsed through his fragile lower half. He bit his lip hard while pressing the palms of his hands to his eyes to keep himself from crying.

"Careful there, kid. That tub isn't the ocean," an annoying voice called from behind him and, after a moment, the siren pulled his hands away and blinked to look at the man that had caught him. Said man was perched on the edge of his hammock and grinned at the boy, a mischievous gleam in his one eye.  
He had taken off his hat, his hair now ruffled up and framing his face, and his heavy coat, leaving him in a white shirt and black pants.

Dipper pulled his eyes away and instead took in his surroundings. First off was the tub he was sitting in. It was just big enough for him to fit, though his tail was crammed in slightly. At least the pain had subsided a little now. His deep blue scales shimmered in the light that filtered through the one window in the room. It seemed the sun had come up again.

"How long did I-"

"Just a few hours. Do you even know how hard it was to drag your unconscious fish-ass in here? You should be grateful I was so generous," Bill replied before Dipper had even finished his question. 

The siren immediately made a face and bared his fangs at Bill, his voice almost a snarl as he spoke, "You wouldn’t have to do that if you’d just dropped me back into the ocean in the first place! Stupid human!"

That just made Bill laugh out loud and slap his knee. Dipper crossed his arms and sank a little lower into the water, sulking.

"This tub is too small. I can't stretch my tail," he complained and earned another amused snort from the pirate.

Bill got up and walked over to him, crouching down next to the tub. Dipper immediately leaned away from him and bared his teeth. Singing might not get him anywhere with this specimen, but biting was still an option. 

"Well, tough luck there, Scale Face. That's the biggest one we have. And the men are already pissed because now they have to bathe in the small one. Well, except for Jeff. That guy could probably bathe in a bucket." Bill snickered and at the same time reached out to touch Dipper's tail. His hand clasped around Bill's wrist before he got even close. Bright blue eyes were fixed on the pirate's face when he turned around and Dipper let out a low growl, nails digging into the man's skin.

"Yeesh, kid, relax," Bill huffed and pulled his hand away again, rubbing the small puncture marks that Dipper’s nails had left. 

"Do not touch me. Especially not my tail," Dipper retorted but relaxed a bit again. He tried to stretch said tail and left the end hanging over the other end of the tub. Not the most comfortable, but still better than having it crammed in a tiny space.

"This water hardly contains any oxygen," he complained and Bill made a face.

"Oh shut up. I know you can breathe just fine," the pirate said and got back up, walking over to a desk. Dipper flipped over to lie on his stomach and watched the man study a big map.

"Where are we heading?" The boy immediately felt anxious again. Oh god, what would Mabel and the Stans think? They were probably worried sick! What would Mabel do without him? Oh, who was he kidding. Mabel was fine on her own. He was the one depending on her most of the time. 

"To a harbor not far from here. It'll take about a week and a half to get there. I know someone there who'd pay a small fortune for you." Bill hummed and glanced at the siren boy again.

"Selling me is a really stupid idea," Dipper commented, but before Bill could reply, if he had wanted to, the door flung open and a surprisingly small but well dressed man stepped inside. He looked almost squishy, like a whale, but his expression was fierce and Dipper frowned.

"You do know that knocking is a thing you can do, yeah?" Bill huffed but straightened himself and walked over to the whale-man. 

"Captain, what are you thinking, keeping that on our ship?" Whale-man asked and Dipper pressed a hand to his mouth, trying not to laugh because that guy's voice was even worse than Bill's. The other man glared at the siren who just shrugged.

"Jeez, Gideon. You're too tense. It's not like he can do anything. As soon as he starts singing I'll shut him up. Be it a bullet to the head or a gag in the mouth. I don't think he's very fierce," Bill said and mimicked Dipper's shrug from before. Whether that was intentional or not, the boy didn't know.

Whale-man, aka Gideon, made an indignant noise and shook his head.

"Well, either way, our provisions are running dangerously low and I suspect that Schmebulock is partly to blame for that. I'm pretty sure he's eatin' all the fruit himself. As well as the rum. It's not goin' to last longer than a week. Giffany suggested settin' everyone on a diet, or to catching some fish." he glanced at Dipper again with that last comment and the siren wanted to punch him in his stupid ugly face.

"Ah, we're heading to a harbor anyway! We should be there in a week and a half. Don't worry, we'll be fine. But do tell Giffy to make sure that kitchen gnome doesn't continue eating our stuff," the Captain ordered and Dipper was amazed by how relaxed he was. 

Gideon didn't seem overly happy with that reaction but didn't say anything else. Dipper could feel him seething though and he shivered. So much rage in such a little man. He slammed the door as he left. It didn't seem to phase Bill.

Dipper was already getting bored. Not being able to swim around freely was terrible and he felt homesick. He wanted to explore again and just be free to swim wherever he wanted. He swallowed and then remembered that he still hadn't eaten anything substantial lately. 

He clutched his stomach as it hurt again and he whined quietly. Not quiet enough though.

"What's the matter now? If you keep being obnoxious, I'll just knock you out again," Bill exclaimed and Dipper stuck his tongue out at him, like the adult he was. 

"I'm hungry! You kinda deprived me of my dinner yesterday," he said and rested his arms on the edge of the tub and then tilted his head, resting his cheek on his arms. He made the best puppy-eyes he could muster and his voice was much sweeter than usual. “Please, I'm starving," he begged. 

Bill raised an eyebrow at him and then snickered.

"Very cute, but this still isn't working on me, starfish," he said and Dipper dropped the act, going back to sulking.

"My name's Dipper," he replied and turned his back on Bill again. He was already sick of the nicknames and he had just heard two so far. It could only get worse. But really, not having anything to eat was taking its toll on him as sirens could very well starve. 

"I'm probably not gonna make it to that client of yours. I haven't eaten in days," he sighed but didn't sound hopeful.

He didn't receive an answer.

It was several minutes later that Bill left the room. Dipper dared to be hopeful, that maybe he would get some food after all.

Time went by and nothing happened. At some point he started counting the floorboards. When he was done with those (he counted 42), he started counting the ceiling boards. He stopped midway though as he noticed some weird symbols carved into the ceiling. They appeared to be triangles with eyes inside them and some eyes just on their own. Weird.

He could tell the sun was starting to go down again and Bill still hadn't returned. Dipper whined once more and slipped completely into the water to cover his face. The water was stale though and he couldn't get enough air to stay submerged for long. This was ridiculous. A siren that depended on it's lungs to breathe.

He thought of Mabel and felt like crying again. He missed her smile and laughter already. He would probably never see her again before he died. Wow, that was depressing. If only he had swum back and called for help. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed. He was so lost in his sadness that he didn't hear the door open.

"Oh stop crying, I got you food." Bill's voice pulled him back into reality and his head shot up, eyes locking onto the piece of meat that was dangling from the Captain's hand. He swallowed again and rubbed his eyes.

"I wasn't crying. I was, uh, meditating. Siren's do that," he huffed but blushed a bit in embarrassment. 

"Sure they do," Bill snorted and walked over to him, crouching down again. The food was so close. Dipper leaned forward but Bill held it out of his reach.

"Why are you such an asshat?" Dipper whined and Bill laughed.

"Let's make a deal," he said instead and Dipper frowned.

"A deal?" He asked, his ear-fins twitching lightly. Deals never sounded good. Especially not with lunatic pirates.

"Let me touch your tail and you'll get food." Bill grinned wide and Dipper made an indignant noise.

"Why? It feels like normal fish!" He protested but his gaze flicked to the meat again. Damnit, he was starving.

"Fine! Just give me food," he hissed, though it sounded a little too desperate for his liking.

"Perfect!" Bill hummed and lowered his hand so Dipper could snatch the food out of his hand, biting down on it hard. He knew he should probably eat slower but it was difficult to control himself after not eating for days on end.

When he felt the human's hand on his tail though he almost choked on the piece in his mouth. He had agreed to it, but it still startled him and his first instinct was to recoil from the touch. The pirate was being surprisingly gentle though.

Dipper had honestly expected him to be rougher, but he was careful not to hurt him. Not that this made the situation any better.

The siren elected to ignore the hand on his scales and instead finished up his meal, licking his lips and fingers afterwards. He then dared to glance at the human and snorted when he saw the pure fascination in his face.

Bill looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"What're you laughing at?" the pirate asked and Dipper rolled his eyes.

"You look like you've never touched a fish before," he replied with a shrug and then recoiled from his hand.

"Fish don't like being pet, by the way," he added, sounding too sassy for his own good.

The pirate glared at him for a moment but then snickered and splashed some water into Dipper's face, making the boy sputter irritated. 

"I want to be the first one to be able to say I pet a siren! Plus your scales really are a marvelous color. Although they'd look better if they were yellow," Bill said and straightened himself again.

"Yellow is a dumb color," Dipper shot back and Bill, who had started walking to his hammock, looked over his shoulder at him.

"And here I thought you'd want more food tomorrow. Guess I was wrong," he said nonchalantly and waved his hand before lying down. Dipper realized that night had fallen outside again, the only light in the room coming from a candle he hadn't noticed being lit.

"I was joking. Yellow is really awesome," he was quick to reply and heard a muffled chuckle.

Bill had laid down on his side, back facing the siren.

"Yeah, thought so. Night, constellation," he hummed and proceeded to blow out the candle, that was in his reach. The room was drenched in darkness and not even moonlight was to be seen. It must be a cloudy night.

'Constellation? Really?' Dipper thought begrudgingly. He knew the nicknames would only get worse.

He turned onto his side, trying to find a more comfortable position and failed. He couldn't even sleep in the water because that meant he'd drown. Pathetic.

He tossed and turned for a few more minutes and he must've been louder than he had realized because suddenly something soft hit him right in the face.

"Ow! What the-"

"It's a pillow. Now stop splashing around, I can't sleep with you being all noisy!" Bill's muffled voice hissed at him in the dark. 

Dipper huffed but inspected the pillow. 

He found that if he rested it on the rim of the tub he could lay his head on it, which was a bit more comfortable.

Eventually he managed to fall asleep, dreaming of better days and Mabel.


	3. Squall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bill's POV this time 
> 
> Also here's some more art I did:  
> http://crispych0colate.tumblr.com/post/124326999255/will-i-ever-actually-color-a-picture-png-maybe-in

Being ripped out of one's dreams was one thing, but having it happen in a manner like Bill just experienced was a whole different level of infuriating. The pirate had definitely not expected to get a face full of cold water and it sent him flying right out of his hammock. He landed on his back with a loud thud and groaned as pain shot through his shoulder.

Bill could hear muffled laughter from the other end of the room and he opened his eye after wiping the water off his face. It only took him a few seconds to get back on his feet and stomp over to the siren, eye narrowed in anger. Dipper ceased laughing and shrank back a little, although the defiant scowl on his face stayed.

"You really want to get in trouble, don't you?" Bill hissed and loomed over him intimidatingly, but Dipper didn't shrink. 

"Oh, you mean I wasn't in trouble yet?" Dipper huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Bill could tell that, despite the siren's behavior, he was probably scared out of his mind. Dipper was shaking ever so slightly and how eyes flicked around the room as if expecting danger from anywhere.

Knowing that was enough to make Bill back off. He was still annoyed about getting woken up like that but he had to admit that the boy at least had some guts. Bill's scowl turned into a grin and he bounced back a step.

"That's exactly what I mean! You can count yourself lucky you're not dead yet." Bill walked to the other end of the room, pulling on his heavy coat. He could hear the siren mutter something under his breath but decided not to ask. It was probably something unpleasant anyways. 

"Well, see ya later, lad!" Bill snatched his hat off the rack next to the cabin door before heading out. There was a sound of protest from behind him, but he quickly shut his door behind him. He was not in the mood to entertain his prisoner. He had much more important things to do. 

Things like remind his crew who was boss. Gideon was getting way too insubordinate for his liking.

As he strode out onto the deck he could already hear bickering from the other end of the ship. Feeling a headache coming on, Bill made a face and walked over to his navigator and first mate that were having some kind of discussion over whether or not to throw someone else overboard. 

"Hey, fellas. What's the big idea this time? Can't we go one goddamn day on this ship without you two disturbing the tranquil silence of the ocean?" Bill asked as he joined Giffany and Gideon beneath the mast.

Both of them turned around to look at him, Giffany grinning awkwardly and Gideon crossing his arms indignantly. 

"Captain Cipher! I think we should just throw that deranged kitchen gnome overboard! He's been stealing all of our food and I don't care how well he cooks. He needs to go! And can we get rid of Jeff, while we're at it? That guy's just creepy. Yesterday he-" Giffany didn't get to finish whatever else she was going to say because Gideon promptly interrupted her.

"You can't just throw the entire crew into the ocean! That's like your solution for everything. You need to think about the bigger picture. If we get rid of everyone that bothers you, we'll be stuck with just you, me and the Captain eventually, argh," he exclaimed in his funny little angry voice that always made Bill laugh. 

"Who said anything about keeping you?" Giffany shot back and flipped her hair back over her shoulder.

"Why you little-"

"Alright, that's enough. Your voices are a pain in the ass to listen to, especially when you're screeching like a possessed killer whale," Bill interrupted before Gideon could get another word out. He rubbed his temple and then shook his head.

"Alright, alright. Yes, the cook needs to be punished. No, we don't throw him into the see. As funny as it would be to watch that, he's kinda good at what he does and I don't suspect any of you want to cook, eh?" Bill put his hands on his waist.

Giffany just hrumpfed and looked disappointed, while Gideon nodded vehemently. 

"What are we supposed to do then? Cut off one of his fingers?" The first mate asked.

"Sounds good to me. Tell Valentino to do that or whatever," Bill shrugged, not really caring. Whatever torture method his first mate came up with was good enough.

"But Robbie is terrible at torturing people," Giffany protested, her voice way too whiny for Bill's liking. 

"And you're too good at it. Last time we had this giant blood stain in the middle of the kitchen, and our food had a metallic taste to it! That was disgusting. Punishment is off limits for you, you psycho," Gideon screamed at the navigator and Bill snickered.

"While I admit that the food tasted disgusting, the bloodstain was pretty hilarious. Especially the way Jeff fussed over trying to get rid of it," the captain said, dwelling in the memory for a moment.

"Besides, I have a much more important job for you, Giffy! I need you to take over the wheel for a while and make sure we keep on course. We need to get to the port as soon as possible," Bill said and elected to ignore the annoyed sigh of the girl.

Some said that bringing a woman on board of a ship was a terrible idea. And they were not wrong. Giffany was incredibly talented in all sorts of fields and she was a good crew member, but her tantrums were simply too much for Bill most of the time. She was great at intimidating others though. He kept her in his crew because, even if he hated to admit it, she was one of the more reliable ones.

"Can't Ivan do that?" she asked and glanced over at the bald man who was currently skimming through a book they had gotten during their last raid.

"No, I need him for something else," Bill interjected before she could say anything else. "So you better get going," and the tone of his voice made it clear that he wasn't going to ask nicely again. Even Giffany knew when there was no point in arguing and she turned on the spot and stomped over to the steering wheel.

"Keep an eye on her, I have the feeling she's going to mess something up today," Bill said to Gideon who looked like he still had something else to say. The captain raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.

"Yes, I will see to that. But really, Captain, about the siren-" Yeah ok, nothing worth listening to.

"Nope, not having this conversation again," Bill talked over his first mate and walked over to Ivan without another word. He missed the look of rage passing over Gideon's face.

When he was approached, Ivan looked up from his book and closed it. There was a hint of uncertainty in his one good eye before he coughed and bowed a little.

"How may I help you, Sir?" He asked and Bill barked out a laugh.

"Always so formal! We're on a pirate ship, blind-eye. You need to lighten up a little!" He said and slapped the older man on the shoulder. Ivan just sighed and shook his head without replying. "But you can indeed help me with something. You're into books, right? Bet you read a lot. What do you know about sirens? Read anything about them?" Bill asked, glancing at the ocean before his attention went back to Ivan. The man was deep in thought and then nodded.

"I did indeed read something about sirens, but not much is known about them. Is there anything specific you need to know?" He asked and frowned.

"I need to know their weaknesses and how exactly their magic works." Bill said and inspected his nails for a moment. He remembered Dipper complaining over stale water and contemplated doing something about that for a moment. But then he decided that that was too much work.

Oh.

Shit, Ivan had been talking.

"What was that?" Bill asked, looking back at the man who made a face and sighed exasperatedly. 

"I said, that not many weaknesses are known. First of all, they're not immortal. That means actually killing them shouldn't be too hard. The problem is that when they sing there's not much anyone can do about it. All humans fall under their spell and not even earplugs or anything of the like can prevent that. How their magic works is completely unknown. No one was stupid enough to actually try and research a siren," Ivan explained.

Bill nodded while listening. Well, that wasn't anything new. Except for him being the first human to withstand a siren’s song, that seemed pretty goddamn special. Maybe he should be the first lunatic to research a real live siren. 

Yes, it was probably destiny. 

"Alright, good job! Now get back to your actual work or I’ll set that book of yours on fire while you're still attached to it," he growled and walked away, laughing about the dumb expression on Ivan's face.

Bill wandered the ship and stopped at the railing, staring out onto the water. He had originally come here to find a treasure that was supposed to be hidden on the island in Gravity Bay, but catching Dipper had kind of superseded that plan. He had known that sirens were rumored to live there, that was why he had set out to the island on his own in the first place and he didn't need any of his crew members getting munched on by fish people. He had speculated that the siren's songs wouldn't work on him, but to be honest he had still been a little surprised.

For a moment he could remember the singing voice of Dipper as if it was real and then he blinked.

Wait.

He was actually hearing it.

He whipped his head around, looking to the steering wheel only to find that Jeff was actually there instead of Giffany. He would have laughed about the way the midget had to stand on a barrel to actually reach the wheel, but this was no laughing matter this time.

Not even a minute later he kicked open the door to his cabin only to find exactly what he had expected.

A pretty distressed looking Dipper was trying to keep Giffany at bay with his voice. The girl really had absolutely zero self restraint. Bill spotted a dagger in her hand and gritted his teeth.

The siren's eyes flickered over to him when he stormed over to them both and grabbed Giffanies' hair, pulling her back harshly and removing the knife from her hand, holding it to her cheek instead. One glare from Bill told Dipper to shut up and the boy immediately ceased singing.

This brought the woman back to her senses and before she could so much as blink an eye, Bill was dragging her out of the room by her hair. She let out a terrible scream in pain and Bill really had to control himself in order to not stab her right here. He had never been this angry with any of his crew before and it was hard to hold back.

As soon as they were back outside he let go of her hair only to kick her in the back, sending her flying to the floor.

"What the HELL did I tell you to do? Did I tell you to threaten the siren? DID I?" Bill screamed at the girl who was pushing herself back up onto her knees. She looked pretty miserable, but Bill couldn't care less.

The commotion had attracted the attention of the other crew mates and they soon surrounded both of them. Gideon blinked in confusion.

"Sir, what happened?" He asked and Bill whipped his head around to glare at him too.

"I told you to KEEP AN EYE on her. What's with none of you suckers ever following my orders? I should have you ALL keelhauled!" Bill yelled and most of the sailors flinched. Good. He liked inflicting fear in other people.

"I was busy doing what you ordered!" Gideon protested and glared back. He was the only one that didn't seem too phased by what was happening.

Meanwhile Giffany had started sobbing a little, but wiped the tears away when Bill stared down at her again.

"I'm sorry! I was just curious to take a look. I didn't mean any harm!" She quickly protested, keeping the fear out of her voice.

Bill took a deep breath and his voice was almost too calm when he replied.

"Then what was that dagger doing in your hand, mh? I know exactly what kind of sick mind you have. I've seen it happen often enough. And if I later find one little cut on that fish-boy I will return the favor ten times over," he hissed, leaning closer to her, a glint of sadistic excitement in his gaze.

"I didn't do anything to him! I swear! He was the one that started singing," Giffany screeched and got back up on her feed. 

"He wanted to frame me! Why do would you defend him? He's a monster, Bill! He tried to eat you the other day?" She added, sounding hysterical.

Before Bill could reply Gideon stepped next to her.

"I have to agree with that. I don't think the siren needs your protection, Sir. If anything it was probably his fault," the small man said and held Bill's death glare. The captain took a deep breath and managed to compose himself again. He dusted himself off and fixed the posture of his hat.

"I doubt the so called 'monster' would actively go out, seeking trouble but I will give you the benefit of the doubt for now," he said, but there was still a subtle hint of hot anger in his voice.

"You don't get any dinner today, though. Just for the fact that you were trespassing in my personal cabin and ignoring the orders I gave you," he said and pointed at Giffany. She gritted her teeth but didn't protest.

"And you need to stop talking in this tone with me, Gleeful. I will not have you think you are anything close to me, do you understand? You might be a good first-mate, but you're replaceable. Don't force me to depart from you, if you know what I mean." Bill could tell that Gideon wanted to say something else, but he wisely elected to keep his big, annoying mouth closed for once.

"In fact, you are all replaceable! Never forget that. You will never even come close to my greatness and should be thankful that you're even tolerated on the Mindscape!" Bill raised his voice to address the entire crew. Then he turned around and walked to his cabin, hearing his crew start to whisper as he was leaving.

He didn't care though. 

They had nothing on him.

Besides, it was time to hear the other part of the story and see what the siren had to say in his defense.


	4. Flare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, so many things happen in this chapter. I'm not even going to comment on that.
> 
> Just here look at ALL this wonderful fanart people drew!!  
> [zesapphireknight-art](http://zesapphireknight-art.tumblr.com/post/124540066978/made-a-siren-dipper-for-crispych0colates-fic-out)  
> [i-dont-sell-art](http://i-dont-sell-art.tumblr.com/post/124545349915/siren-dipper-based-off-out-of-the-blue-by)  
> [elentori-art](http://elentori-art.tumblr.com/post/124518293272/siren-dipper-for-crispych0colates-fic-out-of-the)  
> [foxydodo](http://foxydodo.tumblr.com/post/124505297230/yay-its-done-fanart-for-out-of-the-blue-by)

Anxiety ate away at Dipper as he waited for the inevitable confrontation with the pirate captain. If he had the room, he'd probably be swimming in circles by now. Instead, he was draped over the rim of the tub and clawed at the floor with his sharp nails. He felt slightly sick and had to force himself not to hyperventilate. 

He hadn't meant to cause trouble! Not like that anyway. Sure, annoy the asshole that caught him a little, splash him with water or something like that, but he hadn't meant to really hurt someone. Singing to that crazy woman had been self-defense! But why should anyone believe that a siren had only sung for self-defense? It’d never work. 

He could hear Bill's angry screaming even from inside his cabin and then there was silence until footsteps started to come closer. Dipper's heart jumped a little and he held his breath, hiding beneath the surface. Not that it would help him. Plus he couldn't stay underwater for very long.

He hated himself for reacting this way, for showing how scared he was. He had done nothing wrong. Yeah, he should just sit back up and look like he wasn't scared-

The door flung open with a loud bang as it hit the wall.

Nope. Better stay underwater.

But of course that didn't help him. He sucked in a mouthful of water in surprise when a hand fastened in his hair and he was pulled above the surface roughly. Breathing in water through his mouth was a dumb idea and Dipper violently coughed it all up again, trying not to choke.

Bill still had a tight grip on his hair and pulled his face back, pressing something cold and sharp to the siren's throat.

The damn dagger.

"I didn't do anything wrong! Let me go!" Dipper yelled, unmistakable terror in his voice. He was trembling pretty harshly now and blinked some dumb tears out of his eyes. Oh god, he'd probably die now.

To his surprise though, the knife was taken away from his throat and Bill let go of his hair, making him fall face first back into the water. Dipper cringed but immediately twisted around so he could sit upright, back pressed to the wall of the tub. He blinked and stared wide-eyed at the pirate. The siren could tell that the human was trying hard to control himself.

"Explain what happened!" Bill barked at him and Dipper flinched ever so slightly.

"Alright, alright, uhhh, this woman just came in here and had, uhm, no sense of personal space! She just got straight up in my face and that wasn't even the creepy part. I'm pretty sure she was saying a lot of nasty things, but her voice was way too high and fast for me to understand anything!" Dipper squeaked, his own voice mirroring the woman’s. He was too shocked to control the pace in which his words came out of his mouth. 

Bill still seemed to listen though, his stare burning on Dipper's skin.

"Then she suddenly had a dagger in her one hand and the other on my earfin and that's where I absolutely draw the line!" The siren continued and coughed a bit, his throat still sore from swallowing the water earlier.

"I contemplated drowning her first, but then I just sang. It was self-defense ok? I just wanted her to leave!" He finished and, by the end, was more angry than scared. 

"You can't blame me for this. First you just straight up kidnapped me and now I'm getting punished for trying to defend myself! It's not fair!" He yelled and balled his hands into fists, punching the water and making it splash.

When he looked back up he was surprised to find that Bill had relaxed a bit and was... grinning? Dipper was even more startled when the pirate started to laugh.

"Who said anything about punishing you? I'm not going to punish you!" Bill exclaimed and sat down on the floor, still laughing.

"Wait, what?" Dipper asked confused. His face felt hot from anger that started to vanish and his shoulders sagged, relaxing.

"I said I'm not going to punish you! There's not much more I can do without outright killing you anyway, is there?" Bill snorted and got back up again, walking over to his desk to inspect some books.

"Besides, I kind of figured something like that happened. Giffy really needs to control herself. It's annoying. I'd kick her out of the crew, but she's really useful and skilled. But she really has to keep away from my stuff," he spat out the last sentence.

"I'm not your property!" Dipper shot back and crossed his arms, tail twitching angrily. 

Bill chuckled again and picked up a book, some ink and a feather for writing, before walking back over to Dipper once more and sitting down in front of his tub, legs crossed.

"Oh, you very much are. I caught you with my own two hands." the pirate hummed and a grin spread across his face. He opened the book and started scribbling something down in it. The book was red with a golden triangle on the front and the number 1 on the middle of said triangle.

"You can't own another sentient being," Dipper protested, but was now interested in what Bill was writing.

"Yeah you can! It's called slavery. Although, I don't really do that." Bill answered without looking up.

Dipper gave up trying to argue. That would lead him nowhere. He put his hands on the rim of the tub and looked at the book curiously.

"What are you writing?" He tilted his head a little, trying to see.

"Notes about you. So far I know that you're stubborn and whiny. Also weak." Bill smirked and Dipper scowled.

"I'm not weak! I just can't do very much from inside this tub. If you want to do real research you should take a different approach. First you should write down something about my general species and then make notes about me as a person," he pointed out and when he looked up at Bill he felt his face heat up in embarrassment, fins flicking down a little. Bill was just staring at him with an unreadable expression.

"I'll also note down that you're a smartass," Bill said after a moment and Dipper groaned, face palming.

He missed exploring the sea and finding new things to research. Sometimes Stanford would even come with him and teach him new things or show him underwater anomalies. Those days had always been fun. Stanford had taught him magic. Most humans didn't even know that sirens could use magic that went beyond just singing them into submission. 

Remembering his home and family just made Dipper miserable again and he turned his back on the pirate. His tail hung over the rim of the tub on the other side and he drew invisible circles into the tub wall. Surely he’d die of boredom.

A few minutes passed in silence that was broken when Dipper let out a startled yelp at the feeling of a hand on the tip of his tail. He moved it so harshly that he knocked Bill over.

"What did I say about touching? No touching," the siren exclaimed, clearly in distress and made a face again. Why did no one respect his privacy here? Unbelievable!

"Hahaha! I take back the weak part. That almost really hurt!" Bill said and pushed himself back up. He flashed Dipper another grin and the siren ran a hand through his hair.

That caught Bill's attention and the next thing he knew, the pirate was all up in his face and pushing his hair up.

Oh no.

"H-hey! Don't look!" Dipper said and reached out to push Bill away from him. But it was too late. His dumb birthmark had already been exposed.

"What's that? That looks exactly like- Oh. Oh wow, that's how you got that name." Bill laughed and that was when Dipper snapped. 

The siren boy grabbed Bill's collar with both hands and pulled him closer before throwing himself forward with all his strength, managing to pin the human to the ground, while he himself landed on top of him. His face was starting to shift into a more feral version, eyes starting to glow and fangs growing slightly sharper.

"If you don't want me to kill you right now, you will stop invading my personal space! I am so sick of being touched by your kind. I'm starving and I can't breathe in the water! You think you've got me under control, just because you aren’t affected by my voice, but that doesn't mean I can't bite you in half," Dipper snarled before loosening his grip on Bill's shirt. 

Being out of the water, especially being perched on a person, was pretty uncomfortable and he slipped down from Bill, breathing heavily and trying to hoist himself back into the water. His face turned back to normal, although he still looked tired and angry.

The pirate was left speechless on the ground, but he quickly regained his composure. He shook his head and stood up, walking to his desk without another word. Dipper huffed, but failed to climb back into the water. This whole ordeal had taken a toll on him and since he had almost no food in his system and hadn't properly moved for two days now, he had no strength left.

So he slipped back onto the floor, lying on his back and he brought his hands up to cover his face as he sobbed quietly. He really just wanted to go back home. He wanted to hear Mabel laugh and both of the Stan's bicker. He wanted to swim around his colony and hang out with Wendy and Soos. But instead he was doomed to die on a dumb pirate ship, surrounded by assholes.

Bill just sat down at his desk and ignored the siren on the floor. After another couple minutes he got up again and walked past Dipper without so much as glancing at him and left the cabin, closing the door with a loud thud.

Dipper curled up on his side and cried. He didn't know how long a siren could even survive out of the water, but he had absolutely no chance of getting himself back into the tub. He could feel his scales starting to dry out and it hurt way more than anticipated.

"Please come back! Help me," he cried after another few moments but he wasn't sure if anyone would even hear him. And he was certain that Bill wouldn't really care. Dipper had just threatened to kill him after all. And Bill didn't seem like a person to take that lightly. 

'Why am I always so stupid?' Dipper thought to himself. He coughed and tried to move, but every little shift hurt. 

By now he knew that something was going to happen that he couldn't explain, but the pain in his tail doubled, making him writhe on the floor in agony.

"Bill, please! I'm sorry!" He screamed desperately. The seconds seemed like hours and Dipper had already given up, succumbing to whatever fate he had to face now.

But then the door opened again and he heard footsteps coming closer. Then two hands found their way beneath his back and aching tail, lifting him off the hard ground. In the next moment he was back in the water.

"You're lucky I think you're cute," he heard the captain's voice say before he passed out for the second time in two days.

\---

As soon as the smell of food pierced through the haze of unconsciousness, Dipper opened his eyes. He felt a little dizzy, but at least the pain had stopped. He rubbed at his eyes and the world came back into focus.

Bill was holding a piece of meat close to his face and grinning again. At least that probably meant that he wasn't angry anymore. Dipper reached out with his hands and almost expected Bill to pull the food out of reach, but this time he let him have it without a struggle. 

As soon as his hands wrapped around the food he pulled himself up and started eating. Bill let him and just watched, crouched down next to the tub. A quick glance to the porthole told Dipper that night had fallen again and he wondered if he had been out an entire day or just a few hours. 

A few minutes later he was done and stretched himself.

He felt a little awkward after everything that had happened so he avoided eye contact with Bill, who was still staring at him.

"You should see yourself when you're passed out. It's almost adorable," Bill's voice startled Dipper. He sounded rather odd. Slightly sluggish. At closer inspection Dipper also saw that the man's face was flushed a bit and there was something in the way he looked that didn't seem quite lucid.

"What's wrong with you?" Dipper asked, sounding irritated. "First you almost let me die and now you're complimenting me? You're sick," he huffed but Bill just giggled. Not his usual laughter, it sounded more honest.

"I'm just sayin' the truth here, Dip. I've never seen someone with such pretty eyes. I liked it when they glowed. Can you do that again?" The man asked and leaned in closer, and now Dipper was really concerned for his health. He hadn’t known him long, but he knew enough to tell that this kind of behavior was abnormal.

"Who are you and where's Bill? Are you a shape shifter?" The siren asked and narrowed his eyes. He could smell that Bill had drunk something weird. Then he remembered Stanley telling him something about a human beverage that they would always take on long trips called rum. It was essentially a mind altering drink and he was pretty sure Bill had gotten a little too much of that.

His suspicion was confirmed when Bill lifted an almost empty cup and emptied it.

"You probably shouldn't drink any more of that," he pointed out but just earned another fit of laughter from the pirate. 

"Yeesh, don't say you worry about me? No need to worry about Bill Cipher. I can take everything! I'm not called the dellow yevil for nothin'," the pirate exclaimed.

Dellow yevil? What?

Dipper ignored that and just rolled his eyes. 

"You're out of your mind," he said dryly and sniffed a little. He was still grateful that the pirate had come back for him. Bill didn't have to do that but he did. Maybe that guy had a heart somewhere after all?

"How about you sing somethin' for me, lad?" 

That request surprised Dipper. He never sang except for hunting or self-defense and he definitely hadn’t considered singing for the pleasure of someone that wasn't affected by it. 

"Come on, Starfish, that's the least ya can do for me. I saved you!" Bill insisted and leaned closer. Dipper let out a long drawn out sighed and rested one arm on the rim of his little safe haven and leaned in more until his face was closer to Bill's.

"I usually don't sing for fun. But I'm going to do it anyway so you shut up. And don't call me Starfish, that's the worst nickname," Dipper huffed and then closed his eyes.

"Got it, Pine Tree," Bill hummed and Dipper shook his head and frowned at him.

"Alright, what is a Pine Tree and why, of all things, would you call me that?" He asked in utter confusion and Bill snickered again before pointing at the marking on Dipper's arm.

"That looks like a pine tree. It’sa sort of plant that grows in certain places. A massive amount a them together are called a forest! Bet you've never seen a forest before, Pine Tree," Bill tried to explain and Dipper accepted that he would never make sense of the guy and it would be better to just to roll with it.

Bill still looked pretty expectant and Dipper took a deep breath before he started singing.

_"My heart is pierced by cupid,_

_I disdain all glittering gold._

_There is nothing can console me,_

_but my jolly sailor bold."_

Dipper sang what had come to mind first, but one glance at Bill told him he'd chosen the right thing. The human was staring at him in awe and a small smug smile made its way onto the siren's face.

_"Upon one summer's morning_

_I carefully did stray_

_Down by the Walls or Wapping_

_Where I met a sailor gay."_

Dipper was starting to get into the song when, out of nowhere, Bill fell against the boy's shoulder, startling him. On closer inspection though, Dipper noticed that the man has fallen asleep. Had his song done this? Maybe he had some kind of power over the man after all? Dipper frowned. Well, putting someone to sleep was also a good kind of power to have. He would need to research this some other day. But for now he gently took Bill's shoulder's and laid him down on the floor next to the tub.

The man snored peacefully and Dipper chuckled a bit as he placed the pillow under the captain’s head. He wasn't tired enough to sleep anyway.


	5. Coil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter from Bill's POV. It seems the ship is starting to get into some trouble here.
> 
> More wonderful fanart:
> 
>  
> 
> [insomniwolf](http://insomniwolf.deviantart.com/art/Out-Of-The-Blue-548237739)  
> [chikamii-art](http://chikamii-art.tumblr.com/post/124796205123/was-meant-to-be-a-quick-sketch-but-turned-out-way)  
> [supernova1998-art](http://supernova1998-art.tumblr.com/post/124784513173/this-is-for-crispych0colate-and-her-amazing-fan)  
> [split-dreams](http://split-dreams.tumblr.com/post/124701534262/sirendipper-from-crispychocolates-fic-out-of-the)  
> [lucilequiquempois](http://lucilequiquempois.tumblr.com/post/124739275372/sketchs-i-did-after-reading-out-of-the-blue-4th9)  
> [lilimreaper](http://lilimreaper.tumblr.com/post/124692300161/siren-mabel-all-grown-up-her-dip-dop-as)  
> [pepsigrumpy](http://pepsigrumpy.tumblr.com/post/124655219427/i-dont-know-how-to-draw-fish-and-wood-i-cri-this)  
> [jsturkey](http://jsturkey.tumblr.com/post/124601468893/i-am-digging-all-these-siren-aus-out-of-the)  
> [cosmic-hollows](http://cosmic-hollows.tumblr.com/post/124598739458/dipper-siren-from-amazing-out-of-blue-by)

Darkness and cold engulfed Bill and, before he knew what was happening, water forced its way down his throat. He couldn't breath and there was no telling how far away from the surface he was. Air bubbles left his mouth as he started to drown and the only thing he could see was a pair of glowing blue eyes and a row of sharp teeth grinning at him.

He woke with a start, gasping for air and clutching his chest. Cold sweat was running down his back and his head pounded while the room spun dizzily around him. It took him a moment to realize that he was not actually drowning and instead sat on the floor of his cabin.

"Are you ok?" A voice next to him asked, Bill snapped his head around, staring wide eyed at the siren. Dipper looked at him with a confused and maybe worried expression. 

"Just splendid. Why wouldn't I be?" Bill spat back at him, startling the little monster. The pirate managed to get back on his feet and groaned. His head felt like it'd explode and his back was killing him. One glance at the floor told him that he had at least had a pillow, which the siren had probably given him, not that he cared either way.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Dipper tried asking again, but Bill ignored him. He was still too shaken by the nightmare and he hated to admit that Pine Tree's little stunt from yesterday had shocked him quite a bit. He’d seen all sorts of monsters, but this time he’d been really close to getting killed by something he had never expected to attack him. 

He could hear the boy sigh exasperatedly and then there was the noise of splashing water, indicating he had turned his back on him. 

Bill grabbed his hat that was still on the floor and made his way back out onto the deck. He knew they were on the right course and he wanted to take the steering wheel for a while to get his mind off of the nightmare.

As soon as he stepped on deck, he regretted even getting up. Ivan and Gideon were in a heated argument about something Bill couldn't care less about. He grumbled and walked over to them.

But as he approached, and Ivan spotted him, both of them went quiet. Gideon turned towards Bill and smiled.

"Ah, Captain! Good mornin'. Sleep well?" His first mate asked in a suspiciously optimistic voice. Bill raised an eyebrow at him and glanced at Ivan who just shrugged and excused himself, saying something about having to count cannon balls. 

"Yes, slept like a baby,” Bill exclaimed and then immediately switched his tone to a more serious sounding, "What was that about?" 

He noticed the little beads of sweat forming on the small man's face and he narrowed his eye.

"Nothin'! We just had a lil' disagreement about somethin' trivial," Gideon was quick to answer. What a terrible liar he was. But Bill didn't really care what kind of problems Gideon had. 

"Fine then, now get back to work. Tell Jeff to organize the ropes over there, they're way too knotted up. And make sure Giffany actually does her work today, we need to be sure we're exactly on track," Bill ordered dryly and, without waiting for an answer, made his way to the steering wheel, where Robbie was currently stationed.

"Hey, how about you hand that wheel over to me, lad?" Bill asked in a far too cheery voice, making it clear that this was not a question.

The lanky boy with the black hair seemed a little nervous, but stepped away from the steering wheel. Bill didn't waste any time and stepped up to take the helm.

"Uhm, there's something you should maybe know, sir," Robbie started after a moment of awkwardly standing next to the captain.

"Don't want to hear it, whatever it is. Get out of my sight and do something useful," Bill hissed. He was 100% done with people getting on his nerves this morning. He just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. After the incident yesterday, he didn’t have the patience to deal with more than his own anger. 

"Tch, fine. Don't say I didn't try to warn you," Robbie grumbled under his breath before leaving. 

Bill didn't even bat an eye at that. He’d already drifted off into other thoughts.

\---

Dipper seemed to be asleep when Bill returned to his cabin in the evening. He set the bottle of rum he’d brought on his desk, he didn't intend on getting drunk again tonight. He hardly remembered what had happened yesterday, but he decided not to dwell on it. Though it probably wasn’t his brightest idea to just ignore the boy this morning.

Bill Cipher was having nightmares every other night, so this wasn't anything new to him. Yet this dream had shaken him up more than usual. Of course he didn't want to admit that to the boy.

Gideon had told him earlier that their supplies were running dangerously low and Bill had blown him off by saying they would be in a port soon and he needed to stop worrying so much. But then they passed the island that Bill had found Dipper by. It didn't make any sense. 

"I swear, I didn't make a mistake! We were sailing in a straight line for three days, I don't know how that could have happened!" Giffany had said when she was cornered by Bill earlier.

"But that's impossible. How could we have landed back in the same spot without going in circles?" Gideon had yelled at her, enraged. Bill wanted to agree with him, but something was nagging at him. Giffany made a lot of stupid mistakes, but she was one of the best navigators he had ever seen. She wouldn't have them going in circles.

Bill would have noticed if that was the case.

The captain sat down at his desk and opened the journal where he recorded all the strange anomalies that he found during his travels. He had pages about giant sea creatures, terrifying squids that looked like eldritch monsters, and other weird things. He looked for clues that could explain their situation in his section about weather anomalies, skimming past sections on an eternal storm that was always active over some part of the Bermuda triangle and a giant whirlpool he’d navigated past.

None of his findings came close to what was happening now.

He groaned and took a sip of his drink, idly flipping through the pages until he landed on his new page about sirens. He had attempted to make a little drawing of Dipper, but it looked rather embarrassing. Bill wasn't the best artist. 

He chuckled a little bit though and glanced over at the boy. 

Maybe he knew what was going on. Before Bill could ask, the siren boy twisted in the tub and seemed to press his ear to the bottom of it, a few bubbles of air drifting to the surface. Bill raised an eyebrow and crossed his legs, waiting for him to resurface again.

"Where are we?" Dipper asked when he eventually did come back up and his eyes were wide in wonder.

"I want you to guess," Bill replied, sounding pretty serious for once.

"Are we back in Gravity Bay? But we didn't make any turns--Oh." For a second, understanding passed through Dipper's expression, but he quickly hid it and shook his head.

"Alright, Pine Tree, don't fuck with me. What is happening here?" Bill hissed, taking off his hat and yanking at his hair. He held the siren's stare for a moment, but Dipper just shrugged.

"Don't know," the boy answered and sank a little deeper into the water. Oh wow, yeah, he definitely knew what was up. Or he suspected something at least.

Bill sighed and got up, grabbing his gun on the way over to Dipper. He made a point of checking for ammunition before he looked down at Dipper. The siren's face was paler than usual, but otherwise he had his emotions under control as he glared up at Bill. 

A smirk tugged at the corner of the pirate’s lips as he pointed the gun right at Pine Tree's forehead.

"Tell me," he hummed, finger resting beneath the trigger.

Dipper glanced at the gun, then at Bill's face, then back at the gun, before his shoulders sagged and he chuckled quietly. Ok, the pirate had not expected that reaction. Maybe a gun couldn't kill a siren? If that was the case, he'd have to write that down. But before he got to test it, Dipper spoke again.

"I really don't know," he said and slipped more into the water so that just the upper half of his face was above the surface. Bill noted that he looked pretty uncomfortable in that tub. Ah, wrong way of thinking. This was an interrogation!

He made a face and leaned down more, the hand that wasn't holding the gun gripping the rim of the tub.

"I don't think you're really in a position to argue and tell lies," Bill snarled at him but Dipper just glared. In the next moment he lifted his face and water hit Bill right in the face, making him stumble backwards. 

He cursed loudly and rubbed his face dry, droplets of water dripping from his bangs and he stared incredulously at the now giggling siren. 

"You want me to shoot you, do you?" Bill asked, sounding dumbfounded, and Dipper quirked an eyebrow at him, a smug smile spreading across his face. Shit, that made his face look good.

"You're not going to shoot me anyway. Just like I didn't kill _you_ yesterday," the boy said and shrugged.

Bill looked at his gun and then started to laugh, setting it aside. He had to admit, he hadn't planned on killing him anyway. It was kind of refreshing to see someone with the guts to challenge him for once. 

"Besides, I really don't know what's going on. I have an idea but I can't be sure and I really don't like proposing ideas I don't know are true," Dipper added and flipped on his back, groaning a little.

"This tub is getting really uncomfortable," the siren complained and Bill noticed that the skin on his upper body had some sore spots and he could even spot a few splinters. 

"Well, there's not much I can do about that. And no, I'm not letting you go. I'm still planning on getting to that damn port," Bill said and rolled his eyes. He had to try hard to convince himself that he didn't care. 

"You're the worst," the siren whined and Bill couldn't help but smile a bit. 

"Thanks for the compliment," he answered and went back to add some more information to the journal about a siren's feral form.

\---

Six days went by and they passed the island three more times. By now everyone was freaking out and Bill had a very hard time keeping them under control, threats weren’t cutting it anymore. He could tell his crew was starting to get desperate and desperation was never a good thing for a captain. He had been in a lot of tricky situations, but never once was a he stuck in a geographical anomaly. Except for that eternal storm, though getting out of that had been a synch. 

His men were losing it and even Bill had to admit that this was taking a toll on him. He got drunk more often and had nightmares every time he closed his eyes for more than a few minutes.

Dipper's state wasn't much better. The siren boy got restless each time they got close to Gravity Bay. In addition to that, he was slowly starving even if Bill did his best to get him at least a little bit to eat each night. His crew was not happy about that and he couldn't even blame them.

But Dipper proved to be a big help with some of Bill's research, and even if the pirate would never say that out loud, he had started to like him. It was nice talking to him even though they mostly just bickered. Bill had never before needed a friend and had never thought he would, but here he was.

It was early in the morning, the sun just starting to rise, when Bill woke from another nightmare.

"You can't keep going like this. You'll kill us all," Dipper said and he sounded worse off than yesterday. Bill looked over at him and noticed how weak he was. His eyes looked kind of dull and he had bags beneath them from not getting enough sleep. He was way too thin and his fangs were sharper, resembling his feral form.

"I'll find a solution," Bill grumbled but Dipper shook his head.

"You won't and you know it. Maybe I can find a solution if you let me go. If I can just look what's going on beneath the boat I could maybe help," he sighed and Bill barked out a bitter laugh.

"And you think I trust you not to abandon us? No way," he hissed. Dipper's earfins just twitched lightly and he closed his eyes, looking miserable. He didn't even seem to have the strength to argue.

Maybe Bill really was going to kill them all with his stubbornness, but now there was no way back. He had made his bed and he was going to lie in it. Admitting defeat was out of the question for him.

So he got up and prepared to get ready for the day, but he didn't get a chance to do anything as the door to his cabin was kicked open and Gideon, as well as the rest of the crew stormed into the room, weapons drawn.

Dipper's head shot up again, looking concerned, but Bill stood his ground, just eyeing his crew with an unreadable expression.

"We've had enough a’ this, Cipher," Gideon growled.

"We've got almost nothing left to eat and not even fishing works! And we're sick of you pretending everything is going to work out," Giffany added, standing next to Gideon. 

"So, what are you going to do? There's nothing you can do to me that'd solve our problem," Bill snorted and crossed his arms.

"No, not you," Gideon rolled his eyes and pointed his saber at Dipper instead, "But he's still part fish." 

Bill blinked and it took approximately ten seconds for what Gideon had proposed to sink in.

That was enough time for Giffany to shoot forward and dive past Bill, but not enough to reach Dipper. The captain had flung himself towards the girl and pushed her out of the way, only to stumble backwards against the tub.

Gideon, Robbie and Ivan were all diving forwards now too and in the heat of the quarrel there was a loud thud and the tub tipped over, sending Dipper onto the floor and the water dripping through the wooden floorboards.

Before Bill could stop him, Gideon dove towards the siren, sword in hand, and a melody filled the room. It was as if time had stopped and everyone but Bill stopped moving.


	6. Abreast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter today. I decided to update because today was my last examn. It didn't go so good but eh, whatever! Next chapter wil be uploaded on Saturday night. Or sunday if i can't get to it (I'm at galacon as a vendor!!)
> 
> Some more cool fanart:  
> [zesapphireknight-art](http://zesapphireknight-art.tumblr.com/post/125062649188/bill-also-has-a-plush-crispych0colate-i-love)  
> [zesapphireknight-art](http://zesapphireknight-art.tumblr.com/post/125034574603/more-fanart-for-crispych0colates-fic-3)  
> [whatevers-yaoi-idk](http://whatevers-yaoi-idk.tumblr.com/post/125030178734/sirendipper-from-crispychocolates-out-of-the)  
> [lucilequiquempois](http://lucilequiquempois.tumblr.com/post/125033425702/crispych0colates-fic-out-of-the-blue-is-now-my)  
> 

Pain.

Pain was everything Dipper knew. But he still didn't stop singing. He couldn't, or else he was dead. He only briefly registered a hand running through his hair. Then he was overtaken by a splitting pain going through his entire lower body and stars danced in front of his eyes. His voice by now must've shifted more into a screeching sound than anything else.

But he still didn't die. The pain just kept on getting worse and worse. He felt like he was being sliced apart. Maybe his song had stopped working? Maybe Gideon was killing him after all? But no, that wasn't it. He didn't know how he knew, he just did.

All of a sudden the pain started to subside and Dipper didn't feel too dry anymore. In fact, he didn't feel his tail anymore at all. out of complete confusion he had stopped singing but there were no more sounds of fighting. In fact, it was eerily quiet and the half-starved siren finally managed to open his eyes again.

He found every single crew member just stare at him in utter shock and he frowned before noticing that someone was leaning over him. He looked up and stared at a completely dumfounded Bill.

"What's wrong?" he huffed and then looked down. 

Oh. 

Legs.

"What?! Why did no one tell me I could do that! I could've been out of that tub DAYS ago!" yeah, that was definitely the right way to react to suddenly growing legs. 

"I swear, if Stanford knew we could do this I'm going to strangle him!" Dipper added angrily and wriggled out of Bill's grip. He just now noticed that the pirate must've picked him up at some point but he wasn't sure.

He got up on shaky legs and leaned against the wall, panting a little. He felt cold while being so exposed but at the same time he was just glad not to be confined to a small space anymore. Finally he could stretch. But just as he did so he had a saber pointed at his chest again.

Gideon had regained his composure first and, despite being significantly smaller than Dipper, he still looked pretty damn intimidating. The boy bit his lip and looked at the blade to his chest.

"There's no need for that!" Dipper turned his head to see Bill, still looking pretty enraged as he stomped over to both of them, and he flinched when the pirate just grabbed the saber, cutting his hand in the process, and pulled it away from Gideon.

"Now he's not a fish anymore, so get the hell out of my cabin or else I will personally nail you to the mast with your own sword! And don't even think about approaching me for the next hours, you traitorous jackasses!" Bill yelled at the four people in the room and after a moment of hesitation they all cleared out. Gideon made an indignant noise as he left and threw the door shut loudly.

Well, that was awkward.

Bill whipped around to face Dipper who fought the urge to flinch back and instead stood his ground.

"You!" Bill hissed and pointed at his chest, hand still bleeding.

"You're my new first mate." he finished his sentence and then pulled off his jacket only to shove it into the startled boy's hands.

"I- what?! No! I can't be your first mate. I'm not part of your crew!" Dipper protested but the glare that he earned from the captain shut him right up.

"Congratulations. You are now part of my crew. And put some clothes on." Bill just replied dryly and walked over to his hammock, sitting down on the edge. Dipper still hesitated but did put on the coat that was way too big for him. He noticed that Bill was shaking badly and his throat felt dry.

"You're bleeding. You need to treat that." he sighed and walked over to the man. Bill didn't look up at him but that didn't stop Dipper from hesitantly patting him on the shoulder. The boy reached out and took Bill's injured hand to inspect it. 

"It's just a small cut." the man huffed but Dipper shook his head. He thought of his options here. They didn't seem to have anything good to use for bandaging on this ship. He knew a little bit of healing magic but he still wasn't sure if he should reveal that yet.

But then again, Bill had tried to protect him. He kind of owed him.

"That's a really deep cut and if you're not careful it'll kill you faster than any of your crew members could." Dipper just said, sounding annoyed and then he rested his palm on Bill's and started muttering some words in a foreign non-human language.

He could feel Bill tense but a few moments later the cut had closed itself and only a faint line was left.

Dipper let go of the human's hand again, who just inspected it and then narrowed his eye at Dipper.

"So you can heal? What else can you do, huh?" he asked and the boy sighed, shrugging a little.

"That'd be too much to explain now. Besides I don't feel like it. You know, I'd much rather just make a dash for it now and jump off this stupid ship." he huffed and turned but was immediately held back by a hand that wrapped around his wrist.

"You're not going anywhere, Pine Tree." Bill growled but the siren could hear the slightest hint of a plea in his voice.

"Yeah, kind of thought so." Dipper just sighed and turned back around to him. He would probably only need to set one foot, he still couldn't believe he had some now, in front of the door to get attacked by the crew.

"But really, Bill. This isn't going to work out for long! We all need food and the problem with us being stuck here still stands. I do have a theory, but I'd need to get into the water to make sure if it's true." Dipper said urgently while prying the pirate's fingers off his wrist.

"What kind of theory is this?" Bill asked and it was disturbing how quiet he was. There wasn't even a hint of emotion in his tone. Dipper rolled his eyes and picked up Bill's journal flipping through it in interest. The man let him.

"Well, I think it has something to do with the physical and geological structure of Gravity Bay. I'm, the best person to ask about that, I've spent my entire life studying the underwater world." he explained and sounded proud.

"Jeez, kid, just tell me!" Bill groaned but Dipper shook his head.

"No. Not until I'm sure." the siren frowned and then laughed when he saw the page about himself.

"This book is great! I wish I could keep books, but that's not really practical underwater. I only ever get to look at them when a, uh, victim has some with them." Dipper rambled and almost didn't hear the groan as Bill let himself fall back into the hammock.

"And I thought you were bad when you were stuck in the tub." the pirate mumbled under his breath but the siren heard him nonetheless.

"Don't complain, you brought this upon yourself. Legs are so cool. I'd really like to see the ship in it's entirety and see how it works, but I doubt I'm very welcome out there. Though I technically could help with the no food problem, even from outside the water." Dipper pondered. that got the pirate's attention back.

"How would you do that? Sing the fish into our nets?" Bill snickered but propped himself up on his elbows as best as he could. 

"Yes, actually. We have lots of different songs. It doesn't always work but it'd be worth a try. Better than starving everyone. I'm pretty sure they're all kind of angry at you and that's not a good thing for a captain. You can't keep hiding from your problems." Dipper continued but was promptly interrupted as Bill jumped back out of the hammock.

"What do you know about my problems?! Nothing. Stop pretending you'd know what's best for me or as if you cared. You're just waiting for the perfect opportunity to drag me into the depths of water hell!" Bill yelled into the siren's startled face.

Dipper blinked and then growled.

"You really still think that? You're unbelievable. I didn't even do anything to you. You're so stupid." he hissed through bared teeth and lay the book back down, pulling the coat a bit more around himself. He tried to ignore the fact that he liked the smell.

"I would not drown you, even if I could." he sighed, calming down a bit as he saw how Bill was still shaking lightly. It was clear that the pirate was pretty shaken by being almost betrayed by his crew. Heck, he had even made a siren first mate, although Dipper wasn't sure if that was sill legitimate.

"That's something a siren would say." Bill hissed, still aggravated. 

"But I'm technically not all that much of a siren right now. Plus you made me your first mate and as your first mate I'm telling you, that you need to calm down. Do you..." Dipper averted his gaze for a moment.

"Do you want me to sing for you?" he asked after a quiet pause.

That effectively shut Bill up and when Dipper looked up again he could see the surprise in the other's eye. He liked the slightly abnormal coloration of it. 

"No. No you don't need to do that. I'm perfectly fine." Bill coughed and straightened himself again. 

"But you're right. I can't let those traitors think they've phased me. It's not the first time I get stabbed in the back like that. Gideon thinks he has more power than I do? He'll regret ever even starting to think that. Come with me." Bill said, sounding more determined now and waved for Dipper to follow him out of the door. 

The boy hesitated for a moment and then quickly followed. He was curious but also nervous about what would happen if Bill announced his decision, regarding his position. He was so glad to get out of this room though. 

As soon as he smelled fresh air, his spirits lifted again and he kept walking close behind Bill, almost tempted to hold onto the other's shirt. He and Mabel had always held onto each other when they were nervous. But he couldn't do that now. And especially not with Bill. 

The captain walked to a small staircase that led up to the bridge and cleared his throat before yelling for the entire crew to 'get their dirty asses over there, right now, immediately'.

Dipper stood one step below him and tried not to look nervous, crossing his arms in front of his chest. These guys had been willing to eat him and showing any sign of weakness would only fuel their anger. 

It took a moment but eventually the entire crew was standing below them. Some looked confused, other's pissed and some scared. 

"What's this all about now, Cipher?" Gideon called, a smug little grin on his whale-face. Giffany looked slightly nervous and elbowed the loud mouth, who in turn glared daggers at her.

"Very good question, gleeful! You'll probably be less gleeful when I have made my announcement, you little traitor!" Bill hummed and laughed a little while Dipper watched Gideon narrow his already too small eyes.  
"From today on you're not first mate anymore. I need you for much more important things! Like scrubbing the deck and cleaning up the boat in general! This lad here, Dipper, is the new first mate. You're all under his direct order."

There was utter silence that spread out over several moments and Dipper felt utterly uncomfortable. He was pretty sure that Bill might have just made the biggest mistake of his life.


	7. Adrift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SHAME ON ME. I FORGOT TOUPDATE YESTERDAY.  
> I’M VERY SORRY BUT I CAME BACK TO THE HOTEL LIKE AT 11PM AFTER A VERY EMBARRASSING DEPRESSION EPISODE AND I WAS DEAD TIRED.
> 
> also, can't show off fanart rn because i'm on my laptop and everything is much harder to do. Gonna show some more off in the next chap <33 thank you all so much for drawing fanart of this fic!!!

Dipper got more nervous the longer the silence stretched on. He could see the different emotions crossing the crew's face and Gideon especially seemed ready to murder both of them in cold blood.

"Are you sure you're not under this monster's spell, Sir?" a bald man called from a back row, obviously trying to keep the anger out of his voice, though the sentence came out with an edge.

Dipper cast a quick glance over to Bill and, before the captain could reply, the siren stepped forward, his eyes glowing slightly, trying to keep his voice steady as he snarled.

"Actually, you are correct. I've found a spell that works on your Captain. Not so high and mighty anymore, huh? And I promise you, if either of you makes one single move I will make all of you jump off this rotten vessel. So you better listen to me!" By the time Dipper had finished speaking, he must've looked more terrifying than intended because everyone, save for Gideon and Giffany, had taken a few steps back.

He could also tell that Bill behind him was going to protest, but the siren whipped around and smirked at the human, trying very hard to keep the act up. He wasn't very good at playing the bad guy, but if this was what he had to do to keep both of them alive, he'd do it.

"If you don't play along, I’ll rethink my threat about ripping your throat out when you're asleep. I have legs now," Dipper hissed so quietly that only Bill could hear it and there was a brief moment where Bill looked like he was going to stab him on the spot. The pirate's hands were balled into fists and there was rage burning in his eyes. It was only a split second though because in the next he rested his hands on Dipper's shoulders and brought his face so close that their lips were almost touching.

"We'll see who the better actor is," Bill hissed and Dipper swallowed hard, trying to keep himself from blushing. His siren instincts were trying to kick in and there was the usual hunger pain in his stomach that he had gotten used to those past weeks. There was something else too, a feeling he didn't want to explore right this moment.

Instead, Dipper wrapped one of his arms around Bill's waist and turned back around to face the crew. All of them were staring in utter shock and he could feel the burning hatred radiating off Gideon even from this distance.

"What are you all staring at? You're dismissed! Do whatever you have to do to keep this boat on course. Except for you two," Dipper pointed at Giffany and Gideon, "You can scrub the deck or something." 

And with that, the siren waltzed back towards the captain's cabin, his hand sliding from Bill's hip to take his hand instead along the way.

Once inside his hand fell away and Bill's arm caught him on the chest as he was roughly pushed up against the wall, a very angry pirate crowding into his personal space.

"Care to explain what the hell that was? Who do you think you are, Pine Tree?" the pirate snarled and the pressure on Dipper's throat increased as Bill shifted his arm to cut off his air flow.

The boy gasped and his hands flew up to pull at Bill's arm, but it was in vain.

"You were.... going to get us both killed! You can't just.... make me first mate-" He gasped, voice raspy. He couldn't breathe! 

His nails dug into Bill's arm and that seemed to pull the man out of his fit because he removed his arm from Dipper's throat. The siren took a deep breath and then started coughing, clutching at his chest.

"Didn't you see how ready they were to throw you into the sea? How did you think this was a good course of action! Even I know how social structures work and it’s not like this," he continued to rant after getting enough air back in his system.

Bill glared at him for several moments before he let out a huff. 

"I might've been a little drastic with that decision, but still. Taking control over my ship? Pretending to have control over me? Boy, you might be a pretty little thing, but your spells will never work on me," he growled and grabbed Dipper's hair, forcing his head back and pinning him more against the wall.

"You're my prisoner, not the other way around," he added while Dipper winced in pain.

"At least you had enough sense to play along. In the end it doesn't matter that I don't have real power over you," Dipper complained and managed to get himself out of the pirate's grip, quickly ducking beneath the human's arm and hurrying more into the room. He was sick of being manhandled.

He pulled off the coat he was still wearing and let it fall onto the ground. He didn't like the feeling of clothes on his skin. But this seemed to anger Bill because not even a minute later something hit him on the head.

"Put these on. That's an order," the man huffed as he strode past Dipper and peered out of the porthole.

The clothes were a pair of pants and a clean, white, button up shirt. With an annoyed sigh, the siren decided it would be best to obey and pulled the clothes on. He still thought it felt restricting, but he supposed it would be better to respect Bill's wishes when it came to human behavior. 

"I look stupid," he complained and Bill turned around to raise an eyebrow at him. Then he laughed loudly and shook his head.

"You've put the shirt on backwards," he snickered and halted in front of Dipper, apparently waiting for the siren to pull the shirt back off. Dipper did so with an audible sigh. When the shirt was off he turned it around and pulled it back over his head.

"Mhh, something's missing," Bill hummed and retrieved a small box out of a desk drawer. He returned with a golden chain that had a small triangular shaped pendant attached to it. He placed it around Dipper's neck and then stepped back to nod triumphantly.

"What's with you and triangles?" Dipper grumbled and rolled his eyes. He had to admit though that he liked the accent.

"That's a secret," Bill replied with a smirk and winked at Dipper. The siren was unimpressed.

"Winking doesn't work with just one eye," he pointed out, but had to chuckle a little. If he didn't know any better he'd almost think the guy was trying to flirt. 

"You don't make the winking rules here," Bill replied before crossing his arms. His expression turned more serious and Dipper frowned. 

"What am I going to do with you now, huh? You just put us both into the worst situation out there," Bill said and Dipper made a face.

"Me? You were the one making everything worse! I was just trying to save your stupid face from your crew! How often do I have to repeat that?" Dipper hissed but Bill seemed uninterested in listening to reason.

"That doesn't matter. Now I have to pretend out there I'm into you! Now I have to pretend I- ugh," Bill growled and threw his hands up in exasperation before turning on the spot and slumping down in his chair. He ran a hand over his face mumbling something to himself.

Dipper was entirely thrown off by the way the guy could just swing from one mood to another.

"I don't get why that's so hard for you! I don't even get why my spell's not working on you in the first place," the boy responded bitterly. "Don't make such a big deal out of it." 

"You don't know what you're talking about," Bill shot back. "I don't feel those things other people feel! And I have absolutely no interest in feeling them or pretending I do either. So don't tell me it's not a big deal. My crew respected me and now I have to pretend to be someone I'm not. I don't even know how I'm supposed to do that," Bill yelled and by the end of his rant he sounded more miserable than angry.

The pirate reached out to grab his book and skimmed through the pages, his expression rather frustrated. Dipper stood there and rubbed his arm, awkwardly looking off to the side. He didn't understand humans at all. All he had ever known about them was that they were easy to manipulate through seduction. That was a basic human flaw. Then there was Bill telling him that he didn’t even experience sexuality. That was way too confusing. 

But it was also fascinating. Dipper had never thought about learning more about human behavior, since the only times he'd interacted with them were for hunting reasons. He had never even considered getting closer to one of them, but now he had no choice. Although he still wished he could've just gotten a decent meal that night, he was starting to think that this might be a chance for him to learn more than any other siren. Maybe he could impress Stanford, if the guy didn’t kill him first.

Dipper flinched when a loud thud and a curse pulled him back out of his thoughts and looked over to Bill, who was now tapping his fingers rapidly on the wooden desk.

"You need to relax," Dipper groaned and walked over to him, hesitantly resting a hand on Bill's shoulder. The other shrugged him off.

"Don't touch me," he hissed without looking at him and the words felt like a slap.

"I'm just trying to help! I don't even know why I bother! Agh, you should just let me go again if you hate me this much. It's not like we're going to survive much longer anyway. We're caught in this stupid loop and barely have any food left. This should be your number one priority instead of sulking! It's not like I'm actually trying to invade your private space, jeez," Dipper rambled and was relieved to see that Bill calmed down a bit.

"Right, right. The loop. I still don't see what could be the problem with that. We're definitely not going in circles. We haven’t adjusted the course at all. So why do we continue to drive by the island?" he asked, more talking to himself.

"I have a theory," Dipper said and pointed at the map of the area that was opened on the desk. 

"Look, this place is full of anomalies. I've been studying them with my mentor Stanford for years. I don't know all of them yet, but there might be a time anomaly involved here," he explained and pointed out the course they were taking.

Bill leaned forward and frowned at the map.

"So you're saying we're going back in time we reach a certain point?" he asked and ran his fingers along the path they were taking past the island.

Dipper thought for a moment and shook his head.

"No, if we went back in time, then this would have different consequences. Like all of our timelines being set back to when we entered the time field. We'd just always repeat ourselves and that hasn’t been happening here. Honestly, if it did we wouldn't notice. This must be something else," he explained and noticed the pirate staring at him with an unreadable expression.

"What?" Dipper asked.

"How do you know so much?" Bill asked looking intrigued.

"I told you, I've been studying anomalies all my life. I know this area better than anyone except, maybe, Stanford. He's been around much longer. He's also teaching me… uh, never mind," he bit his lip, not really wanting to give up all of his secrets. He still couldn't trust Bill, especially with magic.

"So what do you suggest we do?" Bill asked, seemingly ignoring Dipper's last comment, much to his relief.

"I suggest we go back on deck and see when exactly we jump back to the beginning. If you'd just let me back into the water, maybe I could find the source of the problem." Dipper said, sounding annoyed.

"You'd just abandon us," Bill pointed out, making Dipper's frustration grow.

"And if I promised not to?" Dipper shot back.

"Can't trust a siren," Bill said and the boy groaned, shaking his head, but he didn't object. He couldn't trust Bill either.

"Let's at least go and investigate outside," he said after a moment, but Bill shook his head.

"I'm not going out there with you. I'm not going to play the lustful. Go alone or whatever," Bill said impassively and turned away from the siren.

Great. 

Bill was just going to mope around for the entire rest of this adventure, wasn't he? 

"Fine, be salty then." Dipper grumbled and walked out of the door, refraining from slamming it shut to keep from making the tension worse. He still didn't understand why Bill was making such a big deal out of this, but he wasn't going to force him to do anything. Especially, since he was a prisoner.

Well, he wasn't much of a prisoner now. He could probably just walk to the railing and jump off. Go back home. Bill had essentially given him all the freedom he could want.

Dipper looked back to the door, frowning for a moment. He wondered if Bill had even realized that.

And yet, Dipper made his way onto the deck to study their course. He wasn't going to abandon this guy, no matter how much he irritated him. There was so much the siren wanted to know and learn about humans now. It would be stupid to throw that chance away. Plus, he found that he actually kind of cared a little. It was appalling, and a little disgusting, to care about your food, but he couldn't help it now.

Once he stepped onto the deck all eyes turned to him. He noticed that most of the crew had gone back to doing their jobs, but it was eerily quiet and there were a few eyes filled with hatred. He could even see a small man not too far from him draw a knife. 

Dipper took a deep breath and put on a grim expression to hide his nervousness. He was not made to lead and he was definitely not made to command people around. But if that's what he had to do to stay alive, then so be it. Even if it’d be simpler, he couldn't just sing the entire crew off the ship. 

He decided to ignore them for now and walked across the deck with confident strides as if he had more rights to be here than anyone else.

He didn't get very far because Gideon stepped in his way. Although that guy was shorter than Dipper, he was still intimidated by him. He was basically a little man filled to the brim with anger and evil intentions.

"I don't know how you did it, but you're not gettin' away with it. Our captain is not one to fall for anyone. This isn't your usual siren magic, is it? And don't even think about lyin' to me, boy," the ex-first mate said.

"It's advanced magic you wouldn't understand. Now get out of my way," Dipper huffed and tried to push past the other man but he wouldn't let him.

"I'm not letting you take over this ship. I'd rather kill you right now," Gideon hissed and out of nowhere there was a sword in his hand. Dipper yelped as the smaller man stabbed at him and jumped out of the way in the last moment.

"Don't you think you have bigger problems than me right now," Dipper protested and dodged another blow. By now there were a few onlookers cheering for Gideon. Fantastic.

"We can solve this problem much better with you out of our Captain’s way!" Someone else screamed from the crowd and Dipper groaned.

The sword almost hit his arm and he had enough. With one fast move he kicked Gideon hard in the stomach, sending the man flying backwards and landing on his back. Dipper loomed over him and he gasped a little, trying to hold back his feral rage. 

"Stop it! I'm not your problem. And I won't hesitate to drown you if you don't stop," he hissed and was going to say something else but then he stopped. He felt something change in the air. It was only a fleeting feeling, but he knew that this had been the moment where the ship was thrown back.

Gideon was yelling something at him but Dipper didn't listen and instead pushed through the crowd to the railing. Gravity Bay was visible again in the distance.

"Oh, for devil's sake! Not again!" Giffany screamed and someone cried out in despair. 

"Stop the ship, right now!" Dipper turned around to face the crew.

"And why would we do that?" Giffany shot back, earning a frustrated glare from Dipper.

"So we can find out why the hell we're getting sent back here all the time. Just do it or I'll make you," he hissed. 

For a few moments no one moved, but then the black haired guy, Robbie, rushed to the anchor and lowered it into the water. Following his example, the others started to pull down the sails. Dipper began to pull off his clothes so he could get into the water and explore the area properly. He had only gotten out of his shirt when the cabin door flew open.

Before Dipper could react, Bill had walked over to him and wrapped his arms around his waist before pushing him against the railing.

"You're not going anywhere," he hissed, too quiet for anyone else to hear.


	8. Ebb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyy new chapter, new fanart! You guys are the best <3
> 
> [ambersuperfun03t](http://ambersuperfun03.tumblr.com/post/125377877704/fanart-for-crispych0colate-cause-i-love-this-ship)   
>  [kiwiliko](http://kiwiliko.tumblr.com/post/125470887310/dip-dips-got-such-a-big-tail-is-he)   
>  [lucilequiquempois](http://lucilequiquempois.tumblr.com/post/125854352642)   
>  [penguinthepink](http://penguinthepink.tumblr.com/post/125254968128/some-fanart-of-the-fanfic-out-of-the-blue-w-by)   
>  [escapades-with-mcb](http://escapades-with-mcb.tumblr.com/post/125301996665/i-just-read-crispych0colates-fic-out-of-the-blue)   
>  [mituni14](http://mituni14.tumblr.com/post/125290834104/i-really-love-out-of-the-blue-be-crispych0colate)   
>  [rarutyp](http://rarutyp.tumblr.com/post/126007729597/i-tried-to-draw-sirendipper-from-out-of-the-blue)   
> 

Bill could see the confusion and anger flash across Dipper's face as he pinned him to the railing. But before the siren could get a word out, Bill turned to face the crew.

"Why did no one try to stop him?" he yelled and Bill could feel Dipper flinch beside him. He knew he needed to somehow uphold the illusion of the stupid spell and he hated it with every fiber of his being when he pulled the siren closer to his side. His arm was wrapped around the boy's waist, but he was tense.

"He said he'd find the source of the problem," Robbie groaned and ran a hand through his hair. The young man looked conflicted and Bill noticed that most of the crew looked awkward and confused. He was slowly losing his power over them and this was not good. Maybe he just should've killed Dipper in the first place. But it was too late for that now. Bill almost jumped when Dipper rested his head on the pirate's shoulder to whisper something in his ear.

"I was just going to take a look. I would've come back," he hissed and Bill sighed. No. He wouldn't have and both of them knew it.

"What's he sayin'? More magic spells to keep you under his control? Sir, this is gettin' out of hand and I'm not going to stand by watching how that monster keeps controlling you," Gideon growled and took a step forward but Bill frowned.

"What are you talking about? What spell? I clearly like him the way he is," Bill huffed and had to try hard not to burst into laughter. He glanced at Dipper who sneered at Gideon. 

"But, Sir!" Gideon tried again and Bill held up a hand to stop him from talking.

"No. He's staying. I'm not letting him go again," he growled and he could hear Dipper sigh next to him.

"I have a better idea," Bill hummed and pushed Dipper away from him so he could look at him properly.

The boy frowned a little, looking expectantly at him.

"You're going to tell us what this little theory of yours is and someone else will go take a look. You've been withholding information anyways," Bill said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice. This entire situation was upsetting him, but he didn't need his crew to know that.

"That's so needlessly complicated," Dipper groaned and reached out to take Bill's hand, but, when he noticed the warning look Bill gave him, he let his hand fall to his side again. 

"I don't care. You're not leaving me," Bill replied harshly and someone in the crew groaned. He could hear someone whisper that this was just awkward to watch and someone else said they wanted their old captain back. 

Bill tried not to show that he could hear them and just stared at Dipper, waiting for an answer.

After a moment of hesitation, the siren gave in.

"I suspect that this ship is sailing into a wormhole," he declared, turning to the crew.

"A what now?" Gideon asked after a moment of silence.

"A wormhole. It's a kind of time-space anomaly. They are basically tunnels through time that can send you anywhere. In this case, it just sends you back to this very point. So it's like, uh, you drive into this invisible tunnel and come back out here at the start. I noticed the slight magic shift when we went through, that's why I needed you to stop the ship," Dipper tried to explain, using wild hand gestures.

Bill looked thoughtful.

"A wormhole, huh? That would explain a lot. So we would just need to change the course to get out of this stupid cycle?" he asked. 

"That depends on how big the tunnel is. We'd need to find a way to measure the entrance. I was going to swim through or see if I could find any indication of it on the sea floor," Dipper said, sounding frustrated again.

"That won't be necessary. We can send someone in a life boat through it," Bill shrugged him off and, before Dipper could protest, turned to the crew and stepped forward.

"Alright, which of you wants to go explore a weird wormhole?" he asked with a grin. No one answered. Someone awkwardly coughed in the back of the crowd.

"You're all a bunch of babies! Fine, I'll decide. Jeff, you go," Bill huffed and pointed at the smaller man in the front row.

"What? Why me? I'm not the right person for this job! Shouldn't someone stronger go?" Jeff complained, looking around nervously.

"Pah. You're fine. But no one should say your good Captain wouldn't be considerate. Ivan, you're going with him," Bill said and smirked at the bald man whose face fell.

"But, Sir, I-"

"Stop complaining. This is an order. And if you keep whining I’ll throw you off the ship so you can swim through the wormhole!" Bill snarled and the two men kept their mouths shut. Bill turned to Gideon.

"You'll oversee this operation. I want them to find the right course so we can get away from this place. And while we're staying here we might as well try our luck at fishing," Bill ordered.

"Why should I? Why not your new first-mate, huh?" Gideon shot back. Bill sighed and ran a hand through his hair before walking towards Gideon, pulling his pistol out of his belt.

"Because this is an order from your captain and I'm not in the mood to deal with my crew talking back to me, get it? I think highly of you, Gideon. Don't ruin that," Bill said in an icy tone.

The smaller man stood his ground a moment then bowed.

"Yes, sir," he ground out before walking away to yell at Ivan and Jeff who were preparing their departure.

Bill sighed quietly. He could tell that Gideon was brimming with anger and he didn't know if fear would contain it for much longer. He would need to keep his eye on Dipper and Gideon.

Speaking of which, he turned around and saw the siren had begrudgingly pulled the shirt back on. Good. At least he was cooperating, more or less. The boy was staring wistfully at the sea. Maybe it would be better to just stuff him back in the bathtub so he didn't have the power to run around on his own, but that would be needlessly cruel.

Bill liked messing with people's heads, but he wasn't really one for outright torture and Dipper hadn't done much that would deserve such treatment. 

With fast strides he walked over to Dipper and rested a hand on his shoulder, keeping a little distance though. The siren flinched, but relaxed when he noticed it was Bill even if his expression was still bitter.

"I want to go home," Dipper said quietly and Bill noticed that his eyes were glassy, as if he was going to cry. Great, now he felt the slightest bit bad. But he shook the feeling off. He couldn't care about this boy; he was going to sell him. No matter how hard it was to think of that when he looked human. 

The pirate was against slavery, but up until now he had never really thought of Dipper as another human being. He knew that he still shouldn't, but there was something about the siren that made him question everything he knew about those creatures. Maybe they weren't as different from humans as everyone thought.

"That's not gonna happen and you know it. So stop crying and accept your fate," Bill grumbled a little and moved his hand from Dipper's shoulder to his wrist instead.

He started walking back to the cabin and pulled Dipper with him. He needed to get out of sight of his crew and he honestly hated feeling that way. He wasn't the most attentive captain to begin with and valued his privacy, but he had never felt the need to actually hide from them. All of this had been one huge mistake, but Bill was definitely not ready to accept this fact. Bill Cipher didn't make any mistakes.

Once back inside he closed the door and let go of Dipper before walking over to the desk and waving to the siren.

"Let's find out where the entrance to this wormhole could be. And then you'll tell me what exactly you know about those things so I can add them to my journal," Bill said without looking at the boy. 

"No." Bill looked up and narrowed his eye at Dipper who was leaning against the wall and had his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Excuse me?" Bill asked and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not helping you anymore. I get nothing in return anyway!" Dipper protested and slid down the door, sitting on the floor and pulling his knees to his chest.

"And here I thought you liked rambling about your studies," Bill said and shook his head. He tried to distance himself from the guilt that started to make its way into his mind. Dipper was not a human and had tried to kill him, he reminded himself. 

Bill shrugged and turned his attention back to his book, starting a new page on wormholes. He would just add what Dipper had told the crew before. He didn't need elaborate explanations anyway. Several minutes had passed while he wrote when he noticed the very quiet sobbing coming from the siren. He gritted his teeth and glanced over at Dipper.

The boy had buried his face in his arms, his knees drawn up against him, and his body was shaking lightly. It was a miserable sight to behold. 

"Let's make a deal," Bill suddenly said and managed to get Dipper's attention. The boy looked up, tears still glistening on his cheeks and frowned.

"Deal?" he asked and rubbed his eyes, "What kind of deal?"

"I'm going to answer any question you have if you stop crying. And if you help me with my book. You seem to be better at research than I am," Bill said and snorted while scratching his head.

"Why would I want to ask you anything?" Dipper huffed and Bill laughed. He turned around, resting his arms on his thighs.

"Because you’re curious. You want to know more about humans, don't you? I can tell you want to expand your horizon," Bill said and folded his hands so he could rest his chin onto them.

Dipper glared at him for a moment but then chewed his lip. The pirate could tell he had him with this.

"Alright, fine! But you have to answer truthfully," he blurted out and leaned a bit more forward.

"Sure, sure. Deal," Bill chuckled and watched Dipper get up to walk over to him. The siren took the journal and looked over the page that Bill had started working on. He nodded in approval and then picked up the feather and started scribbling down some more notes.

"How'd you even learn to write?" Bill asked with a slight frown as he watched.

"Oh, now and then we find some manuscripts from humans and we learned some of their different languages, including writing. Although, like I said, books are not really compatible with water. We usually write on stone plates we make," Dipper explained and then looked up when Bill got off his chair, offering it to the siren instead.

The boy thought for a moment then sat down so he could work better.

"Alright. What was that stuff you've been drinking the other night? You know, the one that made you act all weird," Dipper asked but didn't look up from the page.

Bill blinked and then laughed again as he walked over to his hammock, lying down and crossing his arms behind his head. 

"Really? That's your first question? That was rum. It's an alcoholic drink. Alcohol has a great effect on the mind and when you get drunk you might say or do something you usually wouldn't," he hummed.

"So it's poison? Why would you drink poison voluntarily?" Dipper asked confused.

"Well, I suppose you could call it poison, but it's not deadly. Or at least not directly. We drink it for fun. And because keeping water on a ship makes it stale quickly. Alcohol is easier to preserve," Bill explained.

"Still seems weird to me," Dipper answered. The siren kept asking lots of different questions about what life on land was like and basics of human society. The sun was already going down when Dipper sat back and stretched himself, closing the book.

"Alright, I finished your page about wormholes and added some information to your siren page," the boy explained and ran a hand through his hair. 

"Great. Feel free to add more in there," Bill said and jumped off his hammock. Dipper scoffed as Bill walked to the door.

"I'm going to check on the crew and see if I can find something to eat. You better stay here. I don't want you out there." Bill turned away before he could see the disappointed expression on the siren's face.

Once outside he was immediately greeted by a delightful sight. Robbie and Giffany had pulled in the net thrown into the water and there were quite a few fish inside. It would definitely be enough to feed the crew tonight.

"Good job, suckers!" Bill exclaimed as he walked over to the two. Giffany grinned and Robbie shrugged.

"We don't need to worry about our meal this time. Oh, by the way. Jeff and Ivan have gone through the wormhole at least ten times by now. Jeff had to throw up and Ivan was so disgusted, you should've seen this. He had this really funny, disgusted expression on his face," the girl giggled and Bill snickered.

"But did the find the edge of the worm hole?" he then asked and Robbie shook his head.

"Not yet, but we're positive we're going to find it tomorrow. But say, are you ok? I mean, you're spending an awful lot of time alone with that fish-monster. We're all worried," the young man said, looking actually concerned.

"Ugh, don't look at me like that. I'm perfectly fine. Pine Tree's the least of my problems," Bill said and rolled his eye.

"Pine Tree? I know you like odd nicknames, sir, but that's a little farfetched," Giffany snorted and rested one hand on her hip.

"It makes sense to me. He has this little marking on his arm that looks like a tree." Bill explained and smiled a bit.

"Do you really like him, Captain? I mean, you don't really seem to be under a spell," Giffany asked and looked around carefully.

"We were always under the impression that you were, you know, immune to attraction. And that's what siren spells are based on, right?" she asked and Bill was about to defend himself when Robbie intervened.

"Look, we don't judge you. But we're a little worried about Gideon. He’s been, uh, sowing seeds of mistrust against you to the rest of the crew. And most of them seem to listen to him. He doesn't believe in the spell and thinks you're going to betray us," he explained, whispering nervously.

"You don't need to worry about Gideon. I have everything perfectly under control," Bill snorted, grinning at them. He didn't say anything about the spell though. If he really would be under one, he shouldn't have known about it anyway.

"Now go and get some rum and get those fish into the kitchen. We're going to celebrate!" he exclaimed before Giffany or Robbie could say anything else and turned on the spot to help with the preparations.

One again he pushed all his worries to the back of his mind.


	9. Flood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo character development xD.
> 
> ALSO LOOK AT THIS CUTE BABY  
> [diamondri](http://conscrispacy.tumblr.com/post/126448133752/diamondri-have-some-sirendipper-doodels-best)  
> Also this nice headshot  
> [xnighten](http://xnighten.tumblr.com/post/126293729111/quick-doodles-of-piratebill-from-devil-with-a)  
>   
>   
> [Also Check out this rad playlist i made for this fic.](http://8tracks.com/crispych0colate/out-of-the-blue)

Dipper spent the rest of the evening in the room and read through Bill's journal. He had to admit that he was impressed by all the things the pirate had collected during his travels. He especially liked reading about all the strange creatures and anomalies Bill had found in other parts of the world and not just in the water. Reading this had lifted his spirits again and he had stopped sulking.

He remembered that Bill and him had actually had nice and interesting conversations now and then. Dipper sighed a little bit when his stomach growled but in the exact same moment the door flew open and the captain walked in, a plate of cooked fish in his one hand and two bottles of liquid, Dipper assumed it to be rum, in his other hand.

After closing the book and setting it down on the desk, the siren got up but hesitated. Bill walked over to him, shoving the plate in his hands.

"There. You haven't eaten properly. You look terrible." Bill said but grinned and Dipper couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"I see you managed to catch fish." he said and sat down on the floor, hungrily digging into the fish. He was used to eating fish raw so tasting it cooked made his eyes go wide. 

"That's delicious!" he exclaimed and heard Bill laugh softly. It didn't took the hungry siren very long to finish the entire plate and he had to admit that he felt immediately better. He had been constantly hungry for weeks but now he felt actually like he wasn't starving, so that was nice.

"I need more!" he demanded though and Bill looked at him but when seeing the grin on Dipper's face he laughed.

"Good to see you're back to being a brute." the man said and Dipper laughed as well, running a hand through his hair.

"Good to see you're back to being fun." he countered.

"Speaking of fun. Here." Bill hummed and handed Dipper one of the two bottles. Dipper scrunched his nose when smelling it.

"Drink the poison, boy." Bill snorted and Dipper huffed but then took a sip. It didn't taste bad. It did burn a little in the throat but not much. So he drank more.

"I can see the appeal." he commented but set the bottle down. he was still worried he'd end up all weird in the head like Bill had. That would be embarrassing.

"Soo.. I really like that book you wrote. Why did you start this collection? You don't seem like the research type." Dipper asked after a moment of silence and run his finger over the opening of the bottle.

"I just really like all things that are abnormal and strange. So I started my own collection. It's right, I'm not a researcher. More of a collector." he hummed but then frowned.

"Guess that means I shouldn't sell you." he said, sounding a bit more quiet.

Dipper blinked and smiled softly.

"Maybe you shouldn't. Maybe you should keep me instead." he said, lacing his words with slight magic even though he knew it wouldn't have any effect. it was fun to play around with him though and magic made his voice just sound nicer in general.  
"Trying to smooth talk me again, huh?" Bill said and there was an amused gleam in his eye as he looked down at the siren.

"Anything to stay with you, Captain." Dipper said, batting his eyes. Bill was silent for a moment but then burst into laughter and Dipper had to join in.

"Wouldn't it be stupid if I really fell for that?" Bill asked and Dipper nodded.

"And wouldn't it be stupid if I actually meant it?" he added, but did sound a little bit sarcastic. It was these kinds of moments that he actually didn't feel bad about being here. Bill was fun in a totally different kind of way than any of his other friends. And although he missed them, he was glad he wasn't being treated as a real prisoner.

He took another gulp of the rum and stretched himself. This day had been really tiring and he still needed to adjust a little to having legs. Earlier, while taking a break from writing he had gotten off the chair to walk around a bit and fell flat on his face. He was just glad no one had see that.

When he looked up again he noticed Bill staring at him thoughtfully and Dipper smiled nervously.

"Are you alright?" he snickered a bit and the pirate snapped out of it.

"Yeah. Just fine." the human hummed and emptied his bottle in one gulp, Dipper staring in awe. he couldn't drink that much at once. 

"Just tired." Bill added and got up from his chair to remove his boots and headband before turning off the light. He moved over to the hammock and fell down in it, leaving Dipper in the darkness.

"Am I supposed to sleep on the floor?" He complained. Bill's answer was a pillow, thrown at Dipper's face.

"Yep. Night." the pirate said and Dipper groaned and for a moment he contemplated throwing Bill off his hammock. But then he resigned and lay down on the floor. Falling asleep like this was hard but eventually he slipped off into dreamland.

\---

Later that night he woke with a start after a terrible nightmare that he couldn't remember anymore. He rubbed his eyes and wiped some tears away before trying to make out Bill's shape in the darkness. But he was surprised to find that the hammock was empty. 

Dipper pushed himself up and groaned as his back hurt from sleeping on the hard floor. He decided to take his chance and lay down in the hammock. If Bill was gone, then it was his own fault. Dipper closed his eyes and yawned, trying to fall back asleep. This was definitely much more comfortable. 

But sleep didn't come. Dipper tossed and turned but eventually gave up and with a deep sigh he left the cabin, searching for Bill.

It didn't really take long to find him. As soon as Dipper had come onto the deck he could make out a person standing at the railing and looking up at the sky. The night was clear of any clouds, just like the last night he had spent in the sea, and the moon was shining down on them.

It made Dipper almost feel melancholic. He took a deep breath and then walked over to Bill, standing next to him and looking up to the stars.

"Can't sleep?" he asked and Bill snorted.

"Obviously. What's your excuse? Trying to escape in the dead of the night? Too bad I foiled you plans." Bill responded and Dipper made a sound mixed of a sigh and a laugh.

"Actually, that didn't even occur to me, but that's a very good idea." he said and glanced at the human. 

"But no, I had a nightmare. I can't remember what it was though." the siren explained and shrugged.

"I keep on drowning." Bill suddenly said and Dipper turned to properly frown at him.

"What do you mean?" he asked and after a moment of hesitation Bill turned to face him, honest worry on his face.

"In my dreams. Every night I find myself submerged in dark and cold water. Then I see your stupid eyes and sharp toothed grin before I drown." he explained, sounding more than a little frustrated.

Oh. That might explain a lot. 

"I'm sorry. I wouldn't- I mean, yeah at one point I would have. But I don't think I'd do it now." Dipper replied and rubbed his arms. He really wasn't sure. He had started to like Bill somewhat. And especially after finding out so many things about the human today. 

To his surprise Bill relaxed and laughed quietly. He looked more relaxed than ever and Dipper had the urge to touch him. But he didn't dare.

"You really don't need to defend your nature, Pine Tree. I get that you're a predator. It was just my luck that your magic doesn't work on me. Otherwise I'd be dead now and we both know it." he shrugged.

Dipper bit his lip and looked out at the ocean.

"I shouldn't even have been up there. I was foolish. We usually hunt in a group so no one gets hurt. But I just had to disobey orders just to satisfy my own selfish curiosity. It's probably karma that I met you." He snorted bitterly.

"It's not so bad though, huh, kid? I mean, I could be worse." Bill said, sounding rather full of himself.

"You almost killed me multiple times." Dipper retorted but smirked. He knew at all times that Bill wouldn't go through with it. Just like that one time where he had refrained from killing the pirate, despite his feral side taking over. 

"Guess we're even then. No, in fact I deserve to almost kill you a few more times." Bill said and pushed away from the railing to lie down on his back and stare up at the sky.

"What? Why?" Dipper huffed and crossed his arms, making a face.

"Because you keep putting me in uncomfortable situations." Bill grumbled. Dipper found it stupid to be the only one standing and lay down on his side, facing Bill, but keeping a little bit of distance.

"You don't like being touched at all, do you?" he asked, trying to make sense of it.

"That's not even it! I wouldn't mind, if there wasn't the constant implication of me actually wanting you. Not in a romantic way, I'm solely talking about sexual desire here. And that's what I don't like." Bill tried to explain.

"I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable, it was not my intention to violate your comfort zone." Dipper tried to apologize. He cringed a little when he remembered his slip up with Wendy a few years ago. It reminded him of this situation. He had also disrespected her private space and gotten a slash across the nose. Wendy hadn't talked to him for a week until he had managed to apologize in a heartfelt manner. 

"It's just that, well, I'm used to my hatch-mate giving me at least one hug a day and I just really miss some comfort. I'm not someone that needs that 24/7 but ever since I got here I either had to deal with being stuck in a too small tub, being manhandled or attacked. Oh and that one time that girl tried to cut off my earfin!" he exclaimed and hid his face in his hands.

"It just felt nice to get a little bit of comfort, because, if you believe it or not, I don't really hate you." the siren grumbled and turned onto his other side, feeling too embarrassed by this confession. He hated having to admit that he had those kind of mushy feelings. His mentors would always laugh at him and the only one who knew about this sensitive side of his was Mabel. 

Bill was silent for a while and the minutes stretched on.

Then a hand landed on Dipper's shoulder and the boy tilted his head to look up only to see Bill smirk down on him.

"You're kind of adorable when you get all embarrassed." the man said and Dipper's face turned red before he pushed Bill off.

"Oh, shut up." he swallowed but couldn't hold back the small smile.

They were quiet then and eventually Dipper turned onto his back to look up at the night sky. The stars were beautiful and it didn't take long for Dipper's eyes to grow heavy. He yawned and curled up on his side again, this time back to facing Bill.

"Oy, you can't fall asleep out here. It's too cold. You'll get sick." Bill protested and Dipper blinked, looking at him.

"I'm not sure I can get human illnesses, Bill." he replied and grinned. But the pirate wouldn't have any of it and he got onto his feet. Before Dipper could drag himself up though, the man picked him up and Dipper yelped a little, staring at him wide eyed.

"What're you doing?!" he asked but tried to keep his voice down.

"Well, no one's here to see this. Just go to sleep." Bill replied and started walking back to the cabin. Dipper wanted to protest but he felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness. He rested his head against Bill's shoulder and sighed softly as sleep engulfed him once more.

\---

Bill couldn't help but smile a little when Dipper fell asleep in his arms. It was a feeling he had never actually experienced before. The pirate had never gotten close to someone or even allowed such a thing to happen. But maybe, Dipper had been right. And this meeting hadn't just been random.

In this moment where no one could see them, Bill allowed himself to let his walls down that he usually put up to ignore any kinds of feelings he couldn't control.

He briefly glanced down at Dipper's face when he entered the cabin and appreciated how nice the boy looked. Despite being slightly starved, his skin was still rather soft and the relaxed expression was a nice contrast to the scowl he displayed most of the time.

After a quick glance to the pillow on the floor, Bill decided that the boy deserved a better sleep and laid him down in the hammock.

He contemplated joining him for a moment but then shook his head. He was not going to endure another nightmare tonight. Especially not with the centerpiece of them sleeping right next to him. 

Instead he grabbed his book and lit a small candle to read the things Dipper had added while he was out, celebrating with his crew.

Robbie's words ran through his head again and he grit his teeth. He couldn't tell when Gideon would fully turn against him but by now he was sure that he couldn't really stop it from happening anymore. He was in too deep. Especially now that he was starting to trust Dipper. He still didn't believe that the siren wouldn't just leave as soon as he was back in the water, but he felt they had made a little more progress tonight.

Bill knew that he didn't have many days as Captain of the mindscape left. He had lost his power over these people. 

Now he needed to come up with a plan to get away with as little damage as possible.


	10. Overboard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for an emotional rollercoaster, friendos!
> 
> Art in the chapter by [Lulu!!](http://lucilequiquempois.tumblr.com)  
> Also look at this cutie:  
> [sharkcuddle](http://sharkcuddle.tumblr.com/post/127145874995/why-cant-i-just-go-home-fan-art-for-the)

When Dipper woke up he felt very well rested for once. He stretched himself and noticed that he was actually not lying on the hard floor. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and looked around the room, only to find Bill hunched over the desk. The man's head rested on his arms and he was snoring slightly, obviously asleep.

Dipper giggled quietly and got out of the hammock to walk over to him. There was a burnt down candle next to him, indicating that he had not planned on falling asleep. Dipper frowned and rested a hand softly on the other's shoulder, shaking him lightly.

"Hey, Bill, wake up" he mumbled and couldn't help himself from feeling endearment for the sleeping human. He swallowed hard and bit his tongue. Was he really going to allow himself feelings for his food? Was this really a thing he was going to do? Apparently, yes.

"Come on, wake up." Dipper said a little louder but was distracted by a loud knock on the cabin door. He groaned and ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of what to do. Then he composed himself and walked over to the door, opening it.

There was not much time to react as a gun was pulled and was fired with a loud bang. The bullet luckily just grazed his arm but the shock still sent Dipper reeling back with a yelp. He clasped his hand to the wound and tried to figure out what was going on while trying not to panic.

He could hear shouting. The voice was definitely Gideon and then someone stepped over him and there was another shot fired. More screaming.

He could hear Bill scream in outrage and Gideon responded just as verbally. His head hurt so bad from all the noise. He tried to sing but he couldn't. Was it his transformation? Was it because he couldn't concentrate? There was no way to tell.

A few moments later a shadow appeared above him and something sharp pierced through his foot, making him scream and writhe in agony. Bright lights danced in front of his eyes and he wasn't even aware that he was calling names. He cried for Mabel and Stan and Bill.

Someone screamed in the background before he felt a blow to the head and the world faded once more.  
His dreams were warped and terrifying. He kept swimming in darkness and he could hear distant screams and shouts and the sound of fighting, but could never reach the place where the fighting took place. His tail throbbed with each push and his head felt like it was going to explode.

When Dipper finally managed to regain some of his consciousness, he felt his tail fade and instead one of his feet was hurting badly now. He winced and tried to move but his hands were shackled above his head, making it impossible for him to get up. His eyes refused to open, so he tried to figure out what was going on in a different way.

Wherever he was, the place smelled foul and he could hear the water crash against the wood. Eventually he managed to open his left eye. The siren blinked a few times and moaned in pain. The right half of his face was swollen and he was certain someone had kicked him hard.

After a few more minutes of adjusting he figured that this was some kind of prison cell. It was definitely beneath the deck, because he could hear people talking and walking above him. Plus he was held to the wall by some rusty chains.

He bit is lip when he saw a stab wound in his left foot and his arm throbbed as well, reminding him of the bullet wound.

What had happened? Had Gideon finally snapped? And if yes, then what had happened to Bill? One quick glance around the room told him, that he was alone. A sob escaped his dry throat and he couldn't help the tears from rolling down his cheeks, even if it stung in his injured eye.

What if Bill had died? Oh god, If Bill was dead, then he was completely lost. He was at the mercy of Gideon and no matter how much Dipper told himself to be brave and to keep fighting, he just couldn't anymore. He was at his wits end. Once again Mabel and the Stans came back to his mind, making him wail in agony.

He really, really wanted home. Why did this have to happen, just after he had started to like Bill? What if someone had seen them yesterday night?

Was it even yesterday? He couldn't tell how long he had been unconscious.

He kept crying loudly until he was interrupted by a door opening up in the ceiling and he cringed away from the light, shutting his eyes. Dipper heard someone run down the stairs and shrank back, mentally preparing for another cruelty.

"Don't cry. Don't cry! Dip! Hey, Pine Tree." someone mumbled and then hands touched the siren's face, as gently as they could.

Dipper hiccupped and blinked, recognizing Bill through a hazy layer of tears. That almost made him burst out into tears again. Thank goodness, Bill wasn't dead. But he didn't look much better himself.

He had a big bruise around his remaining eye, and his eye patch had been removed, revealing an empty eye socket. His hair was slightly matted with blood and there were bandages around his arm and torso.

"H-h-help me. Please. Please let me go." Dipper whimpered and tried to move towards the human he had come to trust without noticing it. But the chains wouldn't let him.

"I can't just yet. Still negotiating. I'm not letting them hurt you further." Bill murmured, though his voice seemed tense and there was an underlying aggressiveness. Dipper appreciated that he was trying to repress it.

"You need to hold on a little longer, Pine Tree. Can you do that? Remember that you're a fearsome sea monster." Bill whispered with the hint of a smile and Dipper's lip quivered a little but he composed himself as best as he could. He leaned his face into Bill's hand and shuddered as the human stroked his cheeks carefully with his thumbs.

"CIPHER!" Dipper identified the screeching voice as Gideon.

Bill snarled and grit his teeth.

"Go. I'm fine." Dipper mumbled and the human looked at him for a moment before nodding briefly.

Then the comforting hands were gone from this face and the siren was left in darkness again.

Enough time to try and process what had happened. It seemed, there had indeed been a mutiny and Bill was trying to negotiate with the traitorous crew. Maybe he'd try to get Dipper free? No, the siren doubted it. Bill wouldn't want him set free, right?

Dipper sighed shakily and closed his eye. The human had been so gentle just now. Like he really did care. Maybe he felt the same way Dipper did? Maybe he had just been repressing the growing feelings himself? Dipper just accepted that he trusted Bill. It was odd to admit it. And it was an even weirder feeling to admit that he didn't want to see Bill hurt either. Neither through the crew or himself.

Had he gone insane? Probably. But there was no way to change it now.

At some point Dipper must've fallen asleep, because when he woke up again it was because someone entered the brig. It was dark outside too, so he figured at least a day had passed.

"Bill?" Dipper asked quietly and tensed when there wasn't an answer. He saw them come closer and there was slight metallic rustling and in the next moment the chains let go of his wrists. He sighed softly and rubbed his injured wrists before focusing on the person again. Bill sat down in front of him and took his hand.

"I'm sorry, kid. I didn't plan on you getting hurt. I never even considered they'd hurt you like this. I was stupid." Bill muttered in the darkness. Dipper let out a breath he hadn't noticed holding and carefully moved his hand to link their fingers.

"Yes. You were. It was so obvious. Why do you keep ignoring your problems?" Dipper huffed and bit the inside of his cheek. He hoped Bill wouldn't get mad. But he just heard him chuckle a little.

"Because I'm not as perfect as I like to think." he said and then grew silent. Dipper didn't say anything else either, just kept holding the human's hand. It was warm and, although his skin wasn't soft, it felt comforting in it's own way. They sat in silence for what felt like half an hour.

"They'll make me walk the plank tomorrow. I agreed to it under the condition that they'd set you free." Bill said into the darkness and Dipper tried to process this information.

"I can go home?" he asked quietly and felt Bill's grip on his hand tighten.

"Yes. You can go and they get the ship. And I'll drown I guess. Whatever. I've been prepared for this. My dreams never lie to me. I had it coming. Welp, I'd rather die like this than to grow old and useless." Bill hummed but Dipper did detect the fear and insecurity in the human's voice.

He moved forward to make out Bill's face and then leaned his forehead against the captain's shoulder. The pirate tensed at first but then relaxed again quickly.

"I'm not letting you drown, Bill." Dipper said and was surprised to find that he meant it. All the other times before he had been sure he'd abandon the ship as soon as he would touch the ocean but he could not leave Bill behind now. There was no way.

"Why? You don't owe me anything, kid. In fact, you should definitely let me drown." the pirate huffed and Dipper lightly shook his head.

"Self hatred doesn't fit you. And this is not about owing you." Dipper replied.

"They'll solve the wormhole problem tomorrow. They'll be fine on their own. Or not. I don't care. And you don't need to either." the siren added.

"Yeah, well, but I do care about being forced from my position! I hate these little traitors and I want to see them pay." Bill hissed and dug his nails into the back of Dipper's hand on accident.

"That's better. Let that be your motivation to stay alive then." Dipper chuckled and Bill groaned.

"Stop it with your psycho shit. I don't like being outsmarted." Bill's thumb did rub soothingly over the back of the siren's hand though and the boy smiled.

\---

Giffany and Ivan had appeared early in the morning, some time after Bill had left, and made Dipper strip because they didn't want to lose any valuable clothes. He did get to keep the necklace though, because otherwise he'd have bitten Robbie's hand off.

They tied his hands behind his back and gagged him with an old cloth from the kitchen. They made sure there was no way that Dipper would manipulate them once he was back in the water.

He held his head high and glared at the crew as they forced him to the plank. Not that he wasn't willing to go. Just the sight of seeing Bill beat up and with heavy chains around his ankles made his heart constrict in his chest.

He tried to make eye contact but Bill deliberately looked away.

"You can be grateful I even let you live." Gideon spat in Dipper's face as the siren passed him but Dipper didn't even bother to acknowledge him and just walked to the end of the blank, looking down into the water. He didn't hesitate as he jumped.

The water met him welcomingly and he was glad to find that transforming back didn't took nearly as long. It was still slightly painful and uncomfortable but as soon as his gills were back out and his tail ready for use he felt a weight being lifted off his chest.

The stabbing wound was still there though and it did hurt to swim but he'd live. He quickly shredded the dumb gag with his feral teeth and broke the rope around his wrists with a few hard tugs and use of sharp nails. Those humans were stupid to think that those things would actually keep him restrained once in the water.

The urge to swim home was huge but he waited patiently below the boat, his eyes fixed on the point of the surface where Bill would have to jump off.

The time dragged on and seconds felt like hours but then something broke the surface.

Dipper moved as fast as he could and wrapped his arms tightly around Bill to keep him from sinking too fast. The water was very deep at this point and the weights dragged both of them down even with Dipper working against them. But since his tail was still injured he wasn't as strong.

He looked at Bill and was surprised to see the honest relief in his face. Until now, Bill had doubted him. But there was no time to worry about this. He couldn't drag the human to the surface all by himself so he had just one option left.

He could give a human the ability to breathe underwater. But Bill wouldn't like it.

The siren sighed and leaned in to kiss him but then the pirate turned his head away, making Dipper catch his cheek instead.

"Are you kidding me?! Now?!" Dipper screamed in frustration, his words probably just a garbled mess to the human.

Bill had closed his eyes but it was obvious that he was running out of air.

"Dumbass!" Dipper hissed and grabbed the human's chin with one hand, turning his face around and then pressed his lips to Bill's.

Time seemed to stop for a moment and although he could feel Bill tense, kissing him felt way too nice. Dipper had to force himself to pull back.

He felt the slightest bit guilty about forcing himself onto Bill, but it was to save his goddamn life.

"You can breathe. Now stop glaring daggers at me." Dipper grumbled. It took a moment for Bill to realize what Dipper had done but he took a deep breath, immediately coughing though, because breathing water was very uncomfortable. At least he would live.

Instead of saying anything else Dipper started swimming in the direction of Gravity Bas as best as he could. He could only remove the weights when they were in less deep water, because water pressure was still very much of a threat to humans.

"Stan's going to kill me. Both of them." Dipper groaned and he could hear Bill try to speak up, making out something along the lines of 'Not if I get to it first.'. Despite that, Bill wrapped his arms around Dipper's waist, trying to hold on.

It took Dipper 20 minutes but eventually they reached the island close to his colony and, before surfacing, he let Bill sink to the ground so he could get the dumb chains off. This ordeal took another five minutes and the human was getting restless the longer he was forced to stay underwater. Dipper couldn't bring himself to care. Not after he had been forced to live days out of his element.

Eventually the chain fell off and bill hastily swam to the land with Dipper helping him along the way.

The siren let go as soon as Bill could stand and he was about to turn around when a hand gripped the end of his tail. He yelped as Bill dragged him up onto the island. Why was the human still so strong?

Dipper figured it was because he was hurt and still kind of starved. The sand burned beneath his skin and he cried out as he was dragged up further.

"Let go! Are you crazy?!" he snarled, twisting his head around to glare at Bill.

"Ah, shuddup, I'm not letting you turn again." Bill sputtered and then coughed up some water that was still caught in his system.

Dipper was relieved to find that Bill kept his word and dropped his tail just at the edge of the waterline before he let himself fall back into the sand.

"Was that really necessary?" Dipper grumbled and rolled to lie on his stomach.

"Yes. I need to look at your tail. Once I caught my breath." Bill groaned and held his stomach. He looked miserable. But alive.

"Did you really have to kiss me?" he huffed indignantly and Dipper made a frustrated noise.

"Yes, you hammerhead. Or else you would've drowned. I'm sorry!" Dipper protested but then chuckled.

"Out of all the things you could be pissed about." he added and smiled at Bill.

"Baby steps, Pine Tree. Baby steps. Hand holding all night is one thing. But don't get your fishy mouth near mine again." the pirate grumbled.

Dipper did notice the faintest trace of a blush though and had to hold himself back from beaming.

"Won't happen again." he said reassuringly.

He closed his eyes and let the even sound of the water and Bill's breathing lull him into a relaxed state, despite the lingering pain.


	11. Secure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally we get to know the other sirens!!  
> Also I'm gonna feature fan art next chapter because I'm a little in a hurry here hehe. Enjoy this chap!

"Well, the wound's not too deep. But it definitely needs to be treated." Bill huffed while examining Dipper's tail. The siren was propped up on his elbows, frowning as he looked at the stab wound. It had pierced right through his foot but the wound was less severe on his tail luckily.

They had spent around twenty minutes just relaxing on the beach, trying to process everything that had happened. Bill had been the first one to move and had insisted on checking out Dipper's wounds.

"I can let Stanford treat it. No big deal." Dipper sighed and saw Bill grit his teeth.

"You are planning on letting me get to my colony, right?" Dipper added, narrowing his eye. The other one was still swollen shut.

Bill didn't reply. He just moved to sit down in the sand and stared out onto the sea. It was so odd seeing him so silent. Dipper sighed and crawled over to him, resting his arms and Bill's knee.

"I'm coming back. I promise." he snorted and tried grinning at him.

Bill looked down at him and ran a hand through his hair.

"You can trust me! Why would I save your ass and then not come back to you. Jeez, what do I have to do for you to trust me?" Dipper complained a little and pointed at the necklace. "Look! I like you, ok? You're not as bad as I thought and I promise to come back. I'll try to find food and maybe you can find something on this island here. But I really do need to see my colony. You know that."

"Yes, yes. I know! And it's not like I don't want to trust you. But I've learned that life's way easier if you don't rely on others. Now go." the pirate grumbled and pushed Dipper off his leg.

The boy wanted to reply something but then just shook his head and dragged himself back into the water. He glanced back one last time, seeing that Bill had moved to get up and walked farther onto the island.

With one last sigh Dipper pushed himself into the water and swam deeper into the ocean. His tail hurt but now his heart started racing the closer he came to his colony. He felt a rush of urgency. He had been away or way too long and the prospect of seeing his friends again made him both anxious and excited.

He almost felt sick and had to stop swimming for a moment. What if the Stans would hate him? He had disobeyed them after all! What if they thought he was dead? He swam from right to left nervously and looked down into the depth below him, able to see the seafloor ways down. He bit his lip. Then he heard a screech.

He looked up but only made out a flash of pink before someone crashed into him and arms wrapped tightly around his chest, making it hard to breath.

"DIPPER!! DIPPIN DOTS! DIPPY!" someone screamed in his ear and for a moment he lost orientation. Then a light flicked on in his head.

"Mabel!" he exclaimed and immediately hugged his hatch-mate back. They were still spinning around from the impact but Dipper couldn't care less. He buried his face in Mabel's shoulder and only winced a little when her brutal hug hurt his injured arm.

"Where have you been?! I thought you were dead! Oh my gosh, you're hurt. What the heck happened, dip dop?" Mabel whined after a moment and pulled away slightly to inspect him.

The boy sighed a little and put his hands on her face, squishing her cheeks.

"Can I explain everything when Stanford and Stanley are there too? Plus I kinda need Stanford to help me heal my tail." he mumbled and Mabel looked down, gasping.

"Oh my god, They're going to kill you! But yes, you need to get that treated." she gasped and grabbed his wrist, swimming as fast as she could, kind of dragging him with her.

Usually he would protest but right now he was just so glad to be back home, that he didn't care that she was almost pulling his arm off.

Soon enough the colony came in sight. It lay directly on the verge of a great abyss. There were some caves in a cliff that towered at one side where the sirens lived in. It was part of a coral reef and there were a lot of anemones as well as a field of seaweed closer to the floor.

"Stanford! Stanley! Dipper is back!" Mabel screamed as they approached one of the caves in the upper part of the cliff. Her voice was crystal clear and it was obvious that she was the better singer of the two of them, since not even her screeching was painful to the ear. Her long brown hair flowed behind her and she had put a pink-tinted coral into it, matching her tail.

"What?!" a gruff voice came from inside the cave and soon enough both older sirens came rushing out, eyes widening when they saw Dipper. Stanley was the first to reach them and he pulled Dipper close in a hug. The young Siren snorted a bit awkwardly and pushed him away.

"I thought you don't do hugs." he joked and Stanley glared at him.

"I thought I'd give you one nice gesture before I punch you little punk into the abyss! Where were you?!" 

"And what happened to you?" Stanford added as he approached them, immediately spotting all of Dipper's wounds. "We need to treat that." he huffed and pointed at the injury that was making it hard for Dipper to keep swimming on the spot.

Stanley crossed his arms. Both Stans looked almost the same except for Stanley having a green tail and Ford having a red one.

"Can I explain everything inside, please?" Dipper groaned and before he could move Stanford had grabbed his hand, helping him get into the cave where Dipper rested down on the floor. The others followed him and Mabel was close to exploding with curiosity while Stanley just settled down next to Dipper while Ford prepared some healing spell.

"Now tell us what happened!" Mabel whined and swam close to Dipper, running a hand softly through his hair. They were always touching each other idly. It was their way of showing how close they were. That was also the reason that it had felt so good holding Bill's hand for a night.

"So... a few days ago I thought it would nice to watch the stars-" Dipper started.

"You went to the surface alone?! Dipper how many times did I tell you-" Stanford started but Mabel snarled at the older man.

"Let him speak. You can yell at him later!" she hissed and Dipper chuckled a little. Seeing his sweet hatch-mate this aggressive was always kind of amusing.

"I really just wanted to look at the stars but then I spotted a ship. It was big and a human had climbed into a smaller rowboat, on his way to Gravity Bay. I was contemplating calling you guys and in retrospect I should have done that. But I didn't. I thought I could handle this alone. Tt was just one human after all." Dipper mumbled, feeling embarrassed about having to admit his utter failure.

Meanwhile Ford just kept quiet and started healing Dipper's wounds.

The boy told them the entire story of how he was captured and kept in a tub for days, until they figured they were stuck in a wormhole. Ford had perked up at this and Dipper had to promise to show him that place later. Stanley constantly tried to interrupt him to tell him how stupid he was but Mabel didn't let him.

When he mentioned finding out that sirens could turn into humans though Stanley got real quiet and he could feel Ford tensing a little. Well, they surely had more than one secret hidden. That realization made Dipper slightly suspicious but he didn't dwell on that now. Mabel on the other hand was absolutely ecstatic about this turn of events.

Eventually Dipper finished with how he and Bill had grown a bit closer and he admitted on saving the human. It was dead silent after he had told the entire story.

"You saved him? And you think you like him?!" Mabel asked and then a grin spread across her entire face.

"That is the most adorable thing! Oh my god, Dippy. You need to introduce him to me!" she exclaimed and couldn't contain her excitement.

"The hell you'll do." Stanley interrupted though and both of the younger ones looked at him, frowning.

"You won't go near the island or the surface anymore!" the older siren growled and Dipper just stared at him incredulously.

"Excuse me? I promised to come back! He needs help." Dipper hissed and felt the tension rising in the cave. he knew that the older siren's wouldn't be too happy about this story but this was stupid. Dipper was an adult. He could decide what to do himself.

There was a bright flash of light and then the pain was gone from Dipper's tail.

"As good as new." Ford mumbled and then moved to do the same with his arm and face.

"Whatever you promised doesn't matter. He's a human. A human who mistreated you nonetheless. Although you could go back to lure him into the water so we can feed off of something real for once." Stanley said dismissively.

Dipper blinked and his eyes started to glow dangerously as he entered feral mode out of pure anger.

"You won't touch him." he snarled and was about to fling himself at the elder but Mabel swam in his way, catching him in her arms.

"Stan! We just got him back after weeks and the first thing you do is pick a fight and threaten him?!" Mabel hissed and Dipper relaxed in her arms, wrapping his around her waist. he felt terrible already for getting attached to a human in the first place but that wasn't something he could change. But Stan just had to be like that.

"I agree with Stanley that it's dangerous, but I don't think keeping Dipper away from the human forcefully will do him any good. Knowing him, he'll just sneak off again. We don't need that. So stop being so bossy with him." Stanford grumbled and glared at his own hatch-mate. Stan's fins flicked angrily but then he sighed, finally listening to reason.

"Fine, fine. But I want you to take Mabel with you when you go see him. I don't want you to vanish again out of nowhere." the old man huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Dipper sighed and relaxed, nodding.

"I missed you all so much." Dipper admitted quietly and Mabel made an alarmed noise, stroking his hair. He smiled and chuckled a little.

After a moment he pulled away from her, a little embarrassed.

"So what did I miss?" he asked and was almost immediately interrupted by another squeal from Mabel. he loved how energetic she always seemed to be, although it could be very annoying at times.

"Paz and me are a thing now! Like, mates! Also, she missed you. We need to tell her you're back. And Soos and Wendy!"

"Wait, wait! Hold on. You and Pacifica? Mates?" Dipper blinked, trying to come to terms with the fact that his hatch-mate had found an actual mate. That was a weird thought. Although he was happy for her.

Pacifica and the twins had started out as kind of enemies but after an incident with a human ghost haunting Pacifica's reef they had started becoming friends. Especially since Dipper had been the one to exorcise this thing.

At one point Pacifica and Dipper had grown very close and had almost become mates but then they noticed that they weren't right for each other. they didn't harmonize at all. So they decided to stay close friends instead and he was very glad, because she was fun to hang around. Even if she was mostly being rude.

"Yes!" Mabel screeched and Dipper cringed a bit. He grinned and took her hands.

"Congratulations." he said and she grinned from ear to ear.

"At least it's another siren." Stanley grumbled and Dipper made a face, letting go of Mabel's hands.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he huffed but Stan just shrugged and pretended not to have said anything at all Ford just sighed in annoyance.

"You know what? Let's go and tell everyone you're not actually dead!" Mabel said, obviously trying to lift the mood. She grabbed Dipper's hand before he could object and swam out of the cave to find Wendy and Soos.

Both of the older sirens were very happy to see Dipper and he got almost crushed in another tight group hug. He had to repeat his story again and while Wendy was overly impressed, Soos seemed more scared. At least they weren't as crabby about Bill as Stan was. Soos was not happy about the situation but he had the decency to hold himself back. Wendy on the other hand was more open and found it cool that Dipper learned something new about sirens and himself.

At the end of the day they also went to see Pacifica but this time Dipper just kept the story short. He was relieved that Pacifica was very passive about everything most of the time and when her and Mabel started to get more handsy he coughed awkwardly and excused himself.

He knew that Stanley and Ford had told him to take Mabel with him but she was obviously busy and Dipper really wanted to check on Bill. He didn't want to leave him alone for an entire night or else the human would probably really start to doubt him.

On the way back to the island Dipper also managed to catch a rather big fish. it was hard not to eat it himself but he wanted to show Bill that he cared. He thought about what Stan had said and blushed a bit, realizing that maybe the guy was right. Maybe he did have mate-y kind of feelings for Bill. that would be a disaster. He probably should not pursue that.

When he reached the island he took a deep breath and poked his head out of the water. He smiled when he saw the bright light of a fire that Bill had made and the human lay on the sand. He had pulled off most of his clothes to let them dry and was either asleep or looking at the stars, Dipper couldn't tell.

He tried to be quiet while approaching, but once he got into the shallower waters he couldn't help but make some noise.

Bill sat up and stared at the dark water and Dipper waved.

His smile wavered a bit though when Bill's expression didn't change from a guarded one.

"Hey. I brought you a fish." Dipper said awkwardly and swam up as high as he could without leaving the water. He held up the fish.

"You brought anyone else?" Bill asked and it hit Dipper like a brick that the human probably had the same idea as Stanley.

"What?! No! No. And even if I did bring Mabel she wouldn't hurt you." he protested, looking slightly hurt. Why did everyone doubt him?

But then Bill relaxed and rubbed the back of his neck before walking over to Dipper and dropping onto his knees in front of him. The pirate smirked a little and took the fish.

"Sorry. But I can't be careful enough. I decided that accepting death was the dumbest idea in my life and I'll do anything to stay alive. It's nothing personal, kid." he hummed and jumped up again to get a large stick so he could cook the fish.

"Thanks for the food. That's definitely appreciated." Bill called over to the siren who was propped up on his elbows, still looking a little insulted.

"You're going to join me, or what?" Bill asked and Dipper made a face before shaking his head.

"Are you crazy? Turning hurts like hell! I'd probably pass out." he huffed and rested his face on his hands.

Bill blinked and then looked at the fire instead. Dipper was starting to feel rather miserable because obviously Bill cared more about his own personal comfort than at least trying to adapt to Dipper, like the siren had done.

"Guess I should just go again." he huffed and started to inch backwards when Bill jumped up.

"No, wait! You just came back." the pirate exclaimed and rushed over to Dipper, sitting down in front of him.

"I'm sorry, I'm not good at this feelings stuff. I'm not used to actually caring about someone." Bill said and laughed to try and downplay his embarrassment.

"So you like me?" Dipper snorted and smirked again. He cast a glance at Bill's body, noticing several cuts on his chest and at his side.

"Are you ok? this looks like it hurts. Maybe Mabel and I can heal you tomorrow." Dipper asked, sounding worried. Bill snorted and shrugged.

"Eh, I've gone through worse." he hummed and pointed at his empty eye socket. "Had my eye ripped right out." he told with a large grin.

"Sounds terrible." Dipper said and shook his head.

They sat in silence for a moment and Dipper had to turn to lie on his back soon enough because it was harder to breathe while lying on his stomach. Bill had gotten up to retrieve the cooked fish and snorted a bit when he came back.

"That looks uncomfortable." he commented and sat down. "Hold this." he hummed and pushed the stick with the fish in Dipper's hand who looked just confused. Then Bill put his hands underneath Dipper's arms and pulled him forward a little so the Siren could rest his head in the pirate's lap.

"Better?" Bill asked and Dipper chuckled, trying hard not to blush.

"Yes. Now eat." he huffed and passed Bill the fish again.

They ended up sharing, because Bill had noticed that Dipper probably hadn't eaten anything today and he had apparently found some food on the island while looking around for a while. Dipper told him about how Stan was being an idiot but that most of his friends were curious to meet the human. In a non-predatory way.

At some point they had stopped talking and instead just looked at the stars and the sea. Dipper didn't remember when Bill had started combing through his hair and he wasn't even sure if the human was aware of doing so but he didn't mention it. This moment was too nice to be ruined by words.

Eventually the horizon grew brighter though and Dipper knew he had to leave.

"You should sleep." he mumbled and Bill just nodded, pulling his hands away from Dipper.

"When will you come back?" the pirate asked while Dipper moved back into the sea.

"As soon as I can afford. I'll bring Mabel." Dipper answered and waved one last time before he went back into the depths. His heart was heavy and he covered his face with his hands. This was a disaster.

He wondered if a siren and a human could ever harmonize together.


	12. Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for angst. And Bill being a JERK.
> 
> And ahhhhh thanks to billdip week there are so many nice new pictures you all need to look at!!!!
> 
> [duskcomet15](http://duskcomet15.tumblr.com/post/127416481212/fanart-of-out-of-the-blue-by-crispych0colate)   
>  [lifewhatisthat](http://lifewhatisthat.tumblr.com/post/127645815131/i-drew-crispych0colates-bill-during-todays)   
>  [qroi](http://qroi.tumblr.com/post/127786041599/stargazing-together-edit-billdip-week-day-6)   
>  [angel-fieramente-humano](http://angel-fieramente-humano.tumblr.com/post/127793843267/billdip-week-day-6-piratesiren-au-since-i)   
>  [the-impossible-consulting-angel](http://the-impossible-consulting-angel.tumblr.com/post/127851502091/and-if-you-squint-youll-see-i-actually-coloured)   
>  [souzouwriter](http://souzouwriter.tumblr.com/post/127827634051/poor-dipper-bill-doesnt-understand-the-concept)   
>  [foxydodo](http://foxydodo.tumblr.com/post/127965907030/day-06-siren-au-specifically-crispych0colates)   
>  [moosepantsonfire](http://moosepantsonfire.tumblr.com/post/128008282707/shame-on-me-for-not-knowing-a-single-thing-about)   
>  [runningpineapple](http://runningpineapple.tumblr.com/post/128054501083/out-of-the-blue-by-crispychocolate-truly-is-a)

By the time Dipper returned three days had passed. Bill had almost given up hope, despite wanting to hold on to the siren’s promise. He didn’t like at all how their roles had been reversed. Now he was the prisoner and Dipper was in control. It nagged at him. The island wasn’t too bad in terms of food and water resources. He even had built himself a little hut at the edge of the beach. It itched at him to go deeper into the jungle and explore, but he wanted to wait to tell Dipper or else he might miss him.

Bill was fed up with waiting and he angrily paced the beach, almost deciding to say fuck it and just go, when he heard a splash and two excited voices.

“Is that him?” A female voice attempted to whisper and Bill could hear Dipper groan.

“Shush.” The siren huffed.

Bill took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. He definitely didn’t want Dipper to know that he’d been anxious for him to return. The pirate looked over his shoulder and then turned to walk to the water’s edge.

“Took you a while,” Bill said, sounding slightly annoyed. He deserved attention.

“Dippy here got grounded because he wasn’t supposed to see you without me. And he stayed away the entire night too!” Mabel snickered before Dipper could even get a word in and the boy blushed a bit in embarrassment, raising his hand to hit Mabel on the head.

The female giggled and evaded the blow.

Bill found that she looked very similar to Dipper. Only that she had grown out her hair and her scales were a pretty and rare shade of pink. Most of his men would have fallen for her instantly. But Bill’s eyes were on Dipper. He was amused by the boy’s obvious discomfort and when Dipper glanced at him Bill quickly averted his eyes.

“Anyway! Bill is your name, right? Dipper told me our magic doesn’t work on you. That’s fascinating,” Mabel continued, catching the pirate’s attention again.

“Yep. You got nothing on me. Not even you, although I can tell that the rest of my crew wouldn’t have even needed to hear your song, miss.” Bill chuckled and he could tell Dipper was irritated that he was complimenting his sister. She was his sister, right? Well, something along those lines definitely.

“He didn’t tell me you were such a charmer!” Mabel snickered and swam a bit closer.

“Because he’s not! He’s insufferable!” Dipper protested but quickly followed suit.

“Ah, Pine Tree. Is that really what you think? Didn’t seem so the other night,” Bill snorted and forgot that he had wanted to be angry.

“Ohhh, what happened? You didn’t tell me Dippin Dots!” Mabel asked and Dipper growled, shoving her.

“Nothing happened. And you need to stop calling me dumb nicknames. Both of you!” The boy growled and crossed his arms in front of his chest, while sitting up in the sand. The water still washed over his tail.

“Well, I was going to tell you that I’m going to explore this island. I have no idea when I’ll be back,” Bill hummed and put his hands on his hips.

“What? That’s dangerous. You can’t go alone,” Dipper protested and looked confused.

“Well, you can’t expect me to stay on the beach and just wait for you to come back now and then, can you? I’m not going to waste my time here. And one day I’ll definitely find a way to get away from here,” Bill grumbled as he ran a hand through his hair.

“We could come with you!” Mabel chimed and Dipper whipped his head around in her direction.

“Are you crazy? We don’t know anything about this island! Plus changing hurts,” Dipper complained, but Mabel shrugged.

“Yes, but aren’t you secretly really curious about all the things you could find in that new place? I mean, you almost know everything about the falls. You could probably find a lot of new stuff on this island. But I’m not letting you go alone again!” Mabel said.

“Well, if you two want to join me you’re free to do so. But I’m going to leave today,” Bill said and started walking farther up the beach.

“Agh, fine. But we need to tell the Stans!” Dipper huffed and Bill turned to look at them.

He could see Mabel nod.

“Alright, Dip. I’m going to tell them and you can get changing,” she said and pinched Dipper’s cheek before vanishing beneath the waves. There was a moment of silence between the two men and Dipper looked at his tail. Bill sighed and walked back over to him.

“Need help?” He asked with a smirk and the siren made a noise of annoyance but nodded.

Bill complied, quickly picking Dipper up with one hand around his torso and the other around his tail. Dipper wrapped his arms around Bill’s neck,the pirate being confused to find that he didn’t mind too much.

“And I just got my tail back,” Dipper whined while Bill carried him into the shade of a tree.

“Stop complaining, star child. Don’t you want to have a real adventure?” Bill chuckled and set Dipper down in the sand before sitting down next to him. He felt the siren lean against his shoulder. He felt like he should keep his distance from the boy, but as soon as he started to feel him tense he couldn’t get himself to move.

He didn’t know how much it must hurt to change from a fishtail to legs, but judging from the screams he had heard last time it must be torture.

Without thinking he reached out and took Dipper’s hand, lacing their fingers, and he could see Dipper look at him in surprise. Not much later the transformation started and the siren bit his lip, but couldn’t hold back his cries of agony for long.

Like last time, Bill grabbed his shoulders and held him steady until the ordeal was over. This time he also noticed that the parts of his skin which were usually covered with scales were lightly shimmering in the sunlight, including his legs.

Dipper was panting and he rubbed his forehead with shaky hands.

“You ok there, lad?” Bill asked, but just earned a grumbling noise.

“I’m certain sirens aren’t made for this,” Dipper huffed after finally catching his breath. He inspected his legs and wiggled his toes.

Bill watched his facial expression until Dipper turned to look at him and the pirate got to his feet. He couldn’t deal with the weird and new feelings inside of him yet. He’d just continue to deny them for now. As a matter of proving it to himself he just walked away, leaving Dipper to stand up himself.

The pirate made his way back down to the beach and stared out onto the waves. Not too much later the head of Dipper's sister peeked out of the waves as she came closer. She smirked and was quick to swim up onto the land.

"Our mentors allowed us to go treasure hunting with you. After some gentle persuasion." Something in her voice told Bill that 'gentle' probably wasn't the right description for whatever she had done. He smirked. He already liked this woman.

Before he could reply he heard a dull thud behind him and a soft curse from Dipper. Bill had to hold back a giggle when he turned around to see that the boy had apparently tripped and fallen onto his face.

"What's the matter, star child? I thought you could walk by now!" Bill called over to him and Dipper glared.

"Sand is different than a wooden floor you jerk!" He hissed and Bill's grin grew. He liked the kid's snark.

"Hey, mister! Mind helping me out here? Haha, get it. Out of the water," Mabel giggled and tugged at Bill's pants to get his attention.

"Looks like we got a funny one here," Bill snorted and bent down to pick Mabel up, just as he had done with Dipper earlier. When he walked back to the tree with her, he caught the annoyed look Dipper was giving him and couldn't pinpoint what the siren was annoyed at. Mabel giggled a little and rested her hands on Bill's shoulders, making him huff.

He soon sat her down in the sand and watched Dipper kneel next to her.

"This is gonna hurt. Are you sure you want to do this?" The boy asked worriedly and Mabel rolled her eyes before flicking Dipper's forehead with her fingers.

"Yes, dum-dum! I can take a little pain, duh. Unlike you," she snorted and Dipper scoffed, shoving her lightly.

Bill snorted, but left both of them alone, not really feeling like he was part of this get together. He was having second thoughts about bringing the sirens along now. They knew nothing about how to move on land and, seeing as they had zero skin protection, they'd probably also get a nasty sunburn. They were literal fish out of water.

Mabel was surprisingly quieter while turning than Dipper had been. By the time the sun had reached it’s highest point she had finished her transformation and was testing out her new legs, seemingly excited. Bill mostly avoided looking at her for too long, as he felt uncomfortable with both of them being naked. Especially her though, since he had no goddamn clue on how to actually treat a woman. Did she even count as one? She was a siren and not really comparable to human ladies.

He scratched his head and then let out a sigh, taking off his shirt. The two siren's looked over at him and Mabel whispered something in Dipper's ear which made the boy blush slightly and he shoved her again.

"That's not how you treat family, Pine Tree!" Bill called while he approached them both and grinned when Dipper fidgeted a little. Bill shifted his attention to Mabel and held out his shirt to her.

"Put that on. The sun's pretty nasty on land," he said, a tone of authority in his voice. The girl looked to the shirt, frowned for a moment and then shrugged. She quickly pulled it on and grinned at Dipper.

The shirt was a little too big for her, to Bill's relief.

"So, what were you guys talking about anyway?" He glanced at Dipper.

"Nothing of importance," the boy replied and gave Mabel a hard look. She shrugged, but was still smirking.

"Well then we should get going. The sun is already starting to go down and I'm sick of this beach." Bill huffed and started walking towards the tree line. He was annoyed that he didn’t have anything but his pistol and sword to defend himself with, as Gideon had been sure he would die anyway.

Thinking of the treacherous rat made his blood boil again and he swore to himself that one day the guy would pay. Bill would enjoy putting a bullet into his disgusting face. He must have been pretty obviously pissed because Dipper had caught up to him.

"Are you ok?" The siren asked and Bill rolled his eye, snapping at him.

"Of course I am! I love being stranded with nothing and being betrayed by my crew," he hissed.

Dipper stared at him wide eyed for a few seconds before his expression changed to slight anger. Bill immediately felt bad about taking his frustration out on him, but he still kept it up, not wanting to give in.

"With all the stupid decisions you made that's hardly a surprise," Dipper replied and if it hadn't been for Mabel that squeezed herself between the two man, Bill probably would have started a real fight.

"So I heard you have a journal! Can I see it?" The girl asked, successfully distracting Bill from the sharp words that lay on the tip of his tongue. Instead, he remembered that his book was still on the ship.

"Oh for the devil's sake! Now Gideon has it, argh. After all this hard work!" Bill yelled angrily, obviously frustrated.

"It would have been ruined if you'd taken it with you." Dipper pointed out, still sounding a little sour.

"That would have been better than leaving it to Gideon," Bill replied and Mabel sighed while Dipper face palmed.

"No. I put effort into adding information. Ruining a perfectly good book out of spite is stupid," the siren said. Bill didn't reply, although he knew that Dipper was right. Gideon probably wouldn't ruin it anyway. Whenever Bill got to get his revenge he'd get it back. 

"Guess you'll get to see it another day then, Shooting Star," the pirate sighed and shrugged in defeat.

"Shooting Star?" Mabel asked, confused and Bill pointed to the symbol on her arm.

"Looks kind of like a falling star," he explained, not in the mood to elaborate on his nicknaming skills.

"That's such a cool nickname!" Mabel exclaimed to his surprise and he smiled just the slightest bit.

"Finally someone who appreciates my talent," Bill said and heard Dipper snort.

They continued to walk on in slightly uncomfortable silence until they reached a smaller clearing that seemed like a good place to make a camp. The sun was starting to set and Bill could hear his stomach growl. He cursed under his breath. Searching for food should have been a priority. Why was he being so forgetful lately?

"Alright, here's the plan. I'll go look for something to eat, while you," he pointed at Dipper, "will look for some wood to make a fire," he ordered.

"And what do I do?" Mabel asked.

"You can look around for some water. We'll need it. Make sure it's not salty though," Bill said and hurried to get away from the sirens. He didn't know why he felt so uncomfortable all of a sudden. It was probably due to the fact that he didn’t like feeling so powerless.

When he had been the captain of a crew, he had been feared and respected. While Dipper had never really respected him, he'd at least feared him at some point. Now all he did was talk back to him as if he was the boss of Bill.

He pushed through the undergrowth and tried not to make too much noise, in case he saw some kind of wild animal. For a moment he contemplated just ditching the two, but disregarded that idea. The old Bill might have done something like that, but, no matter how much he tried to deny it, he had changed in the course of the past years. Especially since meeting Dipper.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a noise in front of him and was delighted to see a rather big rabbit not too far away. He quietly pulled his gun and aimed carefully at it's head. One skilled shot later he hummed and picked up the dinner. While he made his way back he also found two coconuts that had fallen onto the ground. Well, at least they wouldn't starve.

He had almost reached the camp when he collided with something, while not really paying attention. He only heard the gasp of surprise while the force of the impact already made him fall right on top of the someone he ran into.

"Ow. Can't you watch where you're going?" Dipper complained and reached up to rub his nose, a pained expression on his face.

"You should be the one watching out for me, Pine Tree," Bill shot back and glared at the siren beneath him. At first it seemed like Dipper was going to snark back at him, but then he just looked upset.

"Why are you like this? What did I even do to you?" He asked, sounding more miserable than angry. Bill noticed that he still hadn't moved to get up, but now his irritation was being melted away by feelings of guilt. He hated guilt.

"You didn't do anything," he ground out and swallowed. He briefly thought back to the night they had spent together a few days ago and finally sighed, relaxing a little.

"I'm just... ah, never mind. I'm sorry," he huffed and finally got off of Dipper, reaching out to help him up. The boy looked at his hand for a moment, but then took it and managed to get up. He didn't let go and Bill frowned at him.

"I don't understand you," Dipper said and his grip tightened a little. Bill's heart felt heavy.

"I don't expect you to. Now let's get back," Bill changed the subject and pulled his hand away. He didn't like how he felt as if he was losing something important while doing so. He was being ridiculous.

Dipper looked like he wanted to reply, but Bill was quick to stalk off back to camp.

There was no denying that something in him had changed. But he was not ready to come to terms with it. Not by a long shot.


	13. Cast off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright you have a bunch of nice things in this chap. Buts mostly angst and fluff haha.
> 
> Also check out these rad drawings!  
> [asano-nee](http://asano-nee.tumblr.com/post/128412354029/scene-from-crispych0colate-s-fanfic-this)  
> [farrenlux](http://farrenlux.tumblr.com/post/127899175143/day-6-pirate-and-siren-aus-from-out-of-the)  
> 

Night had fallen quickly and they had managed to make a fire, eating the hare Bill had caught as well as the coconuts. The atmosphere was awkward since Dipper was looking bitter and Bill himself was being uncharacteristically quiet.

"I'll go to sleep," Dipper mumbled, more to Mabel than to Bill, though the pirate heard him nonetheless. He watched the boy get up only to lie down underneath a tree, in a more grassy area, back facing them.

Bill sighed and then noticed that Mabel was looking at him with narrowed eyes. He huffed and turned to look away.

"What's going on with you two?" The girl asked anyway. "We're not even together for more than a day and you're already fighting? I thought you were friends," she said and Bill had turned back to her to see that she looked confused.

"I don't do friends," Bill shook his head.

"Oh you don’t? What did I even save you for?" Dipper suddenly yelled and sat back up. Shit. Bill cringed a little and coughed awkwardly.

"Relax, kid. It was just a joke!" he tried to play it off, a grin on his face.

"You're a joke!" Dipper replied and jumped up, storming off.

"Dipper, wait! That's dangerous," Mabel cried out but he was already gone. The girl turned on Bill, her eyes taking on a dangerous glint.

"Jeez, do you always take it out on others when you're bothered by something?" She asked and crossed her arms.

"Look, Shooting Star. I don't know what Pine Tree told you about me, but I'm not a good person. No matter which angle you take," Bill said and shrugged nonchalantly. He was worried about Dipper. Very much so. But getting up now would be admitting defeat. Defeat against whom? His own pride. So instead he lay down on his side.

"Are you not gonna help me find him?" Mabel asked incredulously and stumbled a little as she got up.

"Kid can look out for himself," Bill hummed and closed his eyes.

"Maybe Stanley was right..." Mabel grumbled and before Bill could ask what she meant, the girl had vanished as well.

Bill told himself that they would be fine and that it wasn't his responsibility to look after the sirens. He gritted his teeth and balled his hands to fists. Not even five minutes later he was following them into the jungle. Anxiety made his skin crawl while the spiteful voice in his head told him how stupid he was being.

While he made his way through the thick ferns and low hanging tree branches he contemplated his life. He had been the well respected Captain of a feared pirate crew for most of his life and now, within the time span of roughly two weeks, he had lost everything he'd ever cared about. His ship, the respect of his crew and his journal. All because of the stupid blue-eyed little monster.

And yet he hadn't felt like he really lost anything. Well, not until this moment. His heart was beating faster, thinking of all the dangers the two sea dwellers could've gotten into.

What had happened to him? He pinched the bridge of his nose and cursed when he ran straight into another tree branch. His skin was already scratched up and some of the wounds stung, but he kept on pressing forward.

He leaned against a tree and took a deep breath, trying to recollect himself. That's when he heard soft voices talking, not too far away. Relief washed over him when he noticed that they were Dipper's and Mabel's voices.

"...was all a mistake." Bill could hear that Dipper's voice was different than usual. Then it hit him. Was he crying? Damnit.

"Aw, don't say that, Dippin Dots. Maybe he's just stressed?" Mabel replied. Bill inched forward, careful not to make a sound.

Soon enough he could see the two sitting close to a small pond and Mabel rubbing Dipper's back.

"Honestly though, how could I ever think of a human as... as friend," Dipper grumbled and picked up a small rock to throw in the water.

"Well, you know it's not unheard of that some siren's eventually harmonized with humans. I know it's mostly just stories, but I don't think it's impossible." Mabel ran her hand softly over Dipper's arm.

They looked so serene that Bill felt like if he interrupted, he would break something fragile. But he was curious about what she meant with 'harmonizing'.

"But he's broken! He doesn't react to our songs and he's being weird about physical contact. I thought we had at least a connection as friends, but he's been more of an asshole than when he actually held me prisoner!" Dipper complained.

Alright, that was what prompted Bill to interrupt anyways.

"You think I'm broken, just because I don't want to fuck you, huh?" Bill growled and Dipper yelped, jumping up and spinning around to face him wide-eyed. Mabel also jumped up and reached out, as if to grab Dipper's arm, but refrained from doing so.

"That's not- I didn't mean-" Dipper stammered and was bright red in the face but before he could form a coherent sentence Bill was already up in his face.

"Don't lie! That's exactly what you meant. Is that what you want from me, Dipper?" Bill hissed and put his hands on Dipper's waist, making the boy flinch. But Bill's harshness was betrayed by the way his hands were shaking.

"Bill. Don't," Dipper growled, although his eyes were still full of regret and slight fear.

"If you hurt him I won't hesitate to kill you, human!" Mabel's voice snarled at him from the side, but Bill kept his eyes on Dipper.

After a very tense moment he retracted his hands and balled them to fists at his sides.

"I'm not broken, Pine Tree. And I don't need to hear this from you of all people!" Bill spat. He hated how hurt he was. He thought Dipper had understood.

The siren bit his lip and looked away.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, almost inaudible.

"I don't understand. I don't think I'll ever understand. But that doesn't mean I don't respect you," Dipper tried to explain, looking positively miserable.

Mabel had taken a step back and was eyeing both of them. She was alert, as if ready to pounce on Bill the moment he made a wrong move.

"If you respected me you wouldn't go around and tell people I'm broken," Bill countered, his words as sharp as a knife. The boy flinched, as if it had been a real injury.

"What about you, huh? You've been acting awful the entire day! Are you angry at me? Or are you angry at your crew? Because you're obviously angry at someone and I don't want to be your punching bag. I thought you liked me!" Dipper snarled and Bill took a step back.

"I'm angry at myself!" The pirate yelled before immediately shutting his mouth, lips tight. He wrung his hands and tried not to punch himself.

There was silence for a moment and then Mabel walked up to Bill, gently resting a hand on his shoulder. The pirate looked at her pretty face and saw that her eyes had gone soft again. They had a color that Bill rarely ever saw. A wonderful, soothing, shade of pink. Like the sky when the sun was setting.

He couldn't help but relax.

"I think there's a lot you need to talk about. But let's not do this here. This place is giving me the creeps to be honest. Plus the fire is nicer," Mabel hummed and then took Bill's hand to lead him away. Dipper was left standing there, dumbfounded for a moment before he caught up to them.

He trailed a little bit behind though. Bill didn't understand why the girl siren was being so gentle to him after he had almost attacked her brother and it confused him to the point where he couldn't react. He glanced back at Dipper who kept his eyes trained on the ground.

Bill looked at his free hand and suddenly felt gross for the way he had reacted. He stopped walking for a moment, earning a surprised glance from Mabel, and reached out to take Dipper's hand. He was as gentle as he could, fearing the other might flinch away from him but Dipper just looked up in surprise.

His eyes were still kind of glassy from the tears. Bill swallowed and pulled him closer, careful not to seem to rough. There were a lot of things he wanted to say. 'Sorry for scaring you.' 'Sorry for hurting you.' 'I didn't mean to.' But none wanted to pass his lips.

But the siren relaxed and nodded ever so slightly. Bill sighed and continued walking, feeling Dipper walk closer to his side.

Eventually they were back by the fire place and, after Bill had thrown on some more wood, they sat down around it.

Mabel clapped her hands and leaned forward, smile back on her face.

"So, how about you start telling us why you're angry at yourself! Get those emotional issues out of the way, so this treasure hunting trip will actually be fun and not this train wreck of a day all over again!" Mabel exclaimed.

"I don't have emotional issues!" Bill countered and crossed his arms. "The word 'emotions' isn't even in my dictionary. And I've never even heard of 'issues' before!"

"Oh come on!" Mabel groaned and facepalmed.

"You know, Mabel. Maybe we should just go back to the ocean. Forget this all ever happened," Dipper huffed with a pointed look at Bill, leaving him no other choice.

"Alright, jeez. Relax. It's just that I'm conflicted. You've taken everything from me! Everything I've worked for my entire life. And now I'm here. Stuck on an island where I will probably die sooner or later. I was a legend, Pine Tree. The yellow devil of the seven seas! I plundered, sunk ships and was the most feared pirate around. and then you come along. Granted, it was my own fault for even picking you up. No, no. It was my fault to keep you in my chamber. I should have just put you in the brig and my life would have been golden!" Bill rambled, getting angrier the more he talked. He could see Dipper's face fall with every word.

"But!" He cut Mabel off when she tried to speak up.

"But, the weird thing is that I don't regret it. Well, part of me does. the same part that constantly tells me I should kill you before I get too attached. But. I'm afraid that already happened. And it's scaring me." His voice got quieter as he finished. He stared into the fire.

"I was never so scared in my life. Not when my parents banished me after I killed a man at the age of six. Not even when I lost my eye to a crazy man on the streets, while trying to find food. And especially not when the other kids in the orphanage tried to kill me because they said I was a demon. But the one thing. The one thing that makes me scared more than anything! Is admitting that I might not be the man, who I used to be," Bill whispered and pulled his knees to his chest.

"And all because of you."

Two pair of eyes stared at him. One pink and one blue. He didn't look away from the fire. The heat hurt but he felt empty. Admitting to his flaws was such a hard thing to do.

When arms wrapped around him he looked up and met Dipper's eyes. They were laced with sympathy but not pity and Bill could not stand to look at him. This kid's feelings went too deep for Bill's understanding.

"Maybe it's meant to be this way," Dipper said and leaned his head against Bill's shoulder.

"That's why you don't feel bad! You needed to go through all of these things to become the person you are now! It's like in the cool stories Stan tells us sometimes," Mabel nodded and beamed at Bill.

"Life's not a fairytale," Bill hissed but then had to giggle. "Then again, I am sitting with two magical sirens," he said and felt Dipper chuckle next to him.

"It's kind of a fairytale for sirens to imagine actually liking a human. And here I am," the boy said and his arms wrapped a little tighter around Bill's waist. Bill did not have the energy or the desire to push him away. Instead he snaked his own arm around the boy to pull him closer.

One glance at Mabel told Bill that the situation was pretty much exactly what the girl had desired. She was grinning from ear to ear and her hands were clasped in front of her chest.

"Good that that's sorted out!" She cheered and then stretched herself with a yawn.

"I assume we can go on treasure hunting then tomorrow without any further issues. Also, Bill you gotta tell us some of these childhood stories at one point. They sound positively exciting," she added and Bill grinned at her.

"With pleasure," he promised and watched Mabel lie down.

"Good night!" She chimed and closed her eyes, turning her back on them.

Bill closed his eye for a moment, but blinked when Dipper moved his head. He turned to look at him.

"Bill, I..." The siren looked unsure for a moment, but then took a deep breath, "I think I lo-" He didn't get to finish the sentence because the pirate pressed his free hand to the siren's mouth. Dipper's eyes widened in hurt and confusion but Bill just softly shook his head, and gripped Dipper tighter.

"Don't. Don't say that. Not yet," he said and it almost sounded like a plea. "I'm not stupid, kid. But I need you to wait. Baby steps."

When he removed his hand from Dipper's mouth the other's lip was quivering slightly and before he could start crying again, Bill leaned in. The touch of their lips was so light that it could have almost been nonexistent but it was still there. It lasted only for a moment, but that was enough.

"Go to sleep, kid," Bill sighed while Dipper stared at him in awe. The boy eventually seemed to find his way back into reality and quickly shook his head.

"Y-yeah. Right," he stammered and let go of Bill to lie down.

For a moment the pirate wanted to let him, but then he decided against it and instead lay down on his back and grabbed Dipper to pull him on top of him. That was the least he could do, after not being able to offer him some other kind of protection, like a blanket or more clothes.

"Just so you know, I will kick you off if you snore," Bill said and Dipper stuck his tongue out at him.

"You were the one keeping me awake on the ship, all the time," he shot back but there was an amused smile on his face. It made him look so pretty.

"Go to sleep, you hellspawn," Bill groaned and closed his eyes.

Dipper's soft chuckling followed him into his dream world. This was the first time Bill Cipher did not dream of any kind of death or destruction.

\---

"Why the hell did you allow the kids to go on that island, Stanley?" Stanford was furiously swimming around his hatch-mate who looked way too relaxed for the entire situation. Ford threw his hands up and puffed out his fins in anger.

"You need to relax, poindexter! They're going to be fine. Mabel is a tough one and Dipper survived so far on a damn ship all by himself. ‘Sides, you know I can't argue with Mabel," Stanley huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, flicking his tail lightly.

"No Stanley! You don't understand. They don't know what's on that island," Ford snarled and then turned away, looking conflicted.

"Oh yeah? And you do? Come on, Lee, you didn't even know siren's could turn into humans. How would you know what's on that island," Stanley rolled his eyes and swam around Ford to look at him.

Ford avoided his gaze for a moment too long.

"Wait. You did know sirens could turn human? Ford, what are you not telling me!" Stanley growled and grabbed the other man's shoulders. Stanford hissed and flared his fins, pushing the other away.

"I may or may not have been there before! And I might have found a specimen I studied for a while, until..." he trailed off, looking thoroughly nervous now. He should have seen it coming. He shouldn't have let Dipper and Mabel leave for that island again.

"Until what! What thing is up there with the children, Ford?" Stanley screamed finally understanding the urgency of the situation.

"A creature far too dangerous to face. I tried to capture it ages ago after I noticed that I couldn’t control it. But I failed. I thought it wouldn't matter, since it couldn’t follow me into the water. But now..." He shook his head.

"Now what?! Can't we follow the kids and help them? We gotta do something," Stanley groaned and looked upwards to the surface but Ford shook his head.

"I don't think we both would be much help. We just have to hope they're smart enough to defeat it. Or come back earlier," he sighed, resigned.

"That's it?" Stanley asked incredulous.

"Yes, Stanley. That's it."


	14. Fouled

The sun was beating down through the trees, but that was not what woke Dipper. No, what woke him was the excited screeching of his hatch mate. He groaned and opened his eyes, rolling to the side. He yelped when there wasn’t any ground beneath him and he fell a short ways, landing on his back.

“Ow, what the heck?” he grumbled and sat up, rubbing the back of his head.

“I’m sorry, you just looked too cute!” Mabel giggled and reached out to help her brother up to his feet again. He was confused and frowned at her until he heard Bill groan.

“I can breathe again. Sweet salmon I didn’t think I’d survive the night,” the pirate snorted and Dipper looked down at him, remembering what had happened yesterday. He blushed slightly, but glared down at him.

“Don’t complain! You pulled me on top of you!” he huffed and crossed his arms defensively.

“Didn’t think you’d be so heavy,” Bill said and pushed himself up into a sitting position.

“Rude. Underwater that would be no problem,” Dipper replied and Mabel had to step in before Bill could get another word out.

“Alright, enough with you guppies! We need to keep on moving. These weird things flying through the air make me mad,” the girl huffed and viciously scratched at her arms. Bill finally made it onto his feet and stepped closer to her to inspect her arms.

“Those are mosquitos. They sting you to suck your blood. But they can’t kill you or anything,” he explained and Mabel blanched.

“Wait... drink my blood? Ewwww!” Mabel complained and Dipper sighed, resting a hand on her shoulder. 

“You’re right, let’s keep moving,” he said and scratched himself.

“You’re only making it itch worse if you keep scratching.” Bill rolled his eye, but started walking forwards again through the undergrowth. The siren siblings followed him with great curiosity. Mabel was even more curious about most things than Dipper, since he had some experience with humans by now.

While his sister skipped past Bill to examine everything, Dipper trailed after both of them. He still felt a little awkward after yesterday night. He shuddered at the memory of Bill kissing him after denying his words of affection. He was playing with his head and Dipper wasn’t sure if he liked it.

“What’s got you so quiet, kiddo?” said pirate hummed, prompting Dipper to look up at him.

“Just trying to figure you out,” he said bluntly and made a face. Bill blinked and then barked out a laugh.

“Good luck with that. Many have tried, none have succeeded,” he said and turned back around to evade a low hanging branch.

“I bet that’s because you don’t even know yourself,” Dipper grumbled and ducked beneath the same branch. 

“You might be onto something there, Star Child,” Bill replied and then gasped, running forward.

“Don’t touch that, those snakes are venomous!” he called to Mabel and Dipper’s eyes widened as he quickly followed Bill in time to see him pull his hatch mate away from a snake that hung from a tree.

“Ohh, kinda like the ones in that nasty cavern we found, Dippy!” Mabel snorted and patted Bill’s chest.

“Sorry, I’ll be more careful next time! It’s just so cool to finally see what’s up here. And these legs are nifty!” Mabel chuckled, but Dipper could tell that she was a bit embarrassed that Bill had to save her.

“Don’t call me those names!” Dipper groaned, but walked up to her to see if she was hurt anyway. He sighed in relief when he didn't find any indication of her being injured.

“Like you can stop me,” Mabel snorted and poked her hatch mate’s cheek. Dipper swatted her hand away and rolled his eyes before walking onwards. He had no idea what they were looking for. Sure, exploring, but when he went exploring he mostly set out with at least some kind of goal in mind.

“Bill, what are we looking for here?” he asked and looked at the pirate with a slightly annoyed expression.

The human looked him up and down and then shrugged.

“I actually had a map for this island. Remember when I told you that I was actually heading for this place when your fishy head plopped out of the water? The map states that there’s supposedly some kind of treasure on this island. Something very valuable and not crafted by humans. But the map was hidden in my journals. Which are on the ship,” Bill explained and looked sour as he talked about the journal.

“So right now you’re trying to remember what was on the map?” Mabel asked and rested her elbow on Dipper’s shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m looking for some landmarks that were described. But I’m afraid that without the map I’m unable to find anything worthwhile,” he groaned, running a hand through his hair.

“Wait. Wait a second. You said ‘journals’ but I only saw one. Do you have more than one?” Dipper asked a little confused. 

“Yes. I have three. I hid the map in all of them. One journal is useless without the other two. I only showed you the first one. The other two are hidden on the ship. I need to get them back,” Bill groaned and grabbed his sword to slash some bushes out of the way.

“A few days ago you were giving up on your life. I’m glad to see you’ve got your spirit back,” Dipper snorted and Mabel gave him a look to which Dipper just shrugged, mouthing ‘another time’.

“It was a mistake to leave the ship behind. I shouldn’t have given in that easily. Should’ve had Gideon keelhauled instead,” the pirate hissed. “Don’t take it personally, kid. But that was a poor ass decision I made back there,” he quickly added.

“To be fair, you only seem to make poor decisions,” Dipper shot back.

“It seems I do,” Bill hummed. This was the second time in under an hour that Mabel had to diffuse the two.

“Jeez, how did you even survive on that ship locked up in a room together? If I just let you continue you’d be at each other’s throat one way or another,” she groaned and facepalmed.

Both of the men huffed and they kept on walking. Mabel stuck close to Dipper this time.

“Honestly, Dip. What are you doing? I thought you liked him. Why are you messing it up like this?” she mumbled close to his ear and Dipper felt his face go red in embarrassment.

“I don’t know. He’s pushing all my wrong buttons. It’s been like this since we’ve arrived on this island. Well, ever since I turned. I know he’s got some emotional issues, but it’s still very confusing. I feel like he tries to drive us apart on purpose because he can’t deal with liking me,” he replied, hoping Bill couldn’t overhear them again. If he did, he made no indication of such.

Mabel tapped her chin thoughtfully.

“You know, with Paz it was kind of similar. Remember how she used to torment me? It wasn’t until we found our songs that we started to grow closer. Although she still kind of pretended to dislike me,” she snorted and Dipper groaned. He didn’t know how hearing about this was supposed to help him with his human situation.

“Mabel, humans don’t sing. At least not to find a mate. They don’t have personal songs,” Dipper sighed and rubbed his arm, looking away. 

“That doesn’t mean that you two don’t fit. You just need to find his way of singing,” Mabel shrugged. She was just as optimistic as always.

“When you two are done whispering behind my back there, could you hurry it up a bit?” Bill called from the front and Dipper felt his blood boil again, but Mabel rested her hand on his shoulder, holding him back.

“In case you forget, we’re not used to having legs! Maybe a break would be good?” Dipper said, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

Bill groaned and turned around to them both. He looked angry for a moment, but then his face relaxed and he shrugged.

“You two take a break. I’ll look around and come back in a short while,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

“Wait, you’re leaving us?” Mabel huffed and Bill walked over to them.

“I’ll come back. You still got my clothes after all.” He chuckled and then glanced at Dipper. It looked like he was going to say something, but then just shook his head and walked away, leaving them kind of dumbfounded.

“Well, I admit that was preeetty rude,” Mabel sighed, but sat down on a grassy patch, resting her face in her hands and pouting.

“Maybe I made a mistake when I saved him,” Dipper grumbled and also fell down to sit next to her, leaning against his hatch mate.

“But then again, he kissed me yesterday. I just don’t understand,” he added with a soft sigh. 

“He kissed you? Well that’s good! There’s still hope! Maybe you just need to see past his douchebag-y-ness and focus on the good things!” she tried to cheer him up.

“I would, if he wasn’t being such a prick right now. Having a conversation with him is like pulling teeth! Not like the ones we had on the ship. Maybe I should just help him get his ship back. But I have no idea how? The other pirates are surely gone by now to who knows where.” 

“Or! You could ask him to come with us,” Mabel hummed and Dipper snapped his head around to stare at her.

“What? He can’t live underwater Mabel!” he laughed, but his sibling looked pretty serious.

“I thought you and Ford were skilled with magic! There must be some kind of spell that can turn a human into a siren, right?” she asked and Dipper wanted to reject the idea entirely, but it got him thinking. Maybe there _was_ a spell for that. He frowned and rubbed his chin.

“Maybe we could… I’d need to ask Ford,” he mumbled and Mabel’s grin grew. She was about to say something else, but the bushes rustled and Bill returned.

“Find anything interesting?” Mabel chimed and jumped back up.

“Yeah, I did! It’s just a little walk north,” Bill said and grinned at them before turning back around, waving for them to follow. Mabel was eager to and after a moment of hesitation Dipper got up as well, following the two.

“So what’s it that you found? A marker for the treasure?” Mabel asked, sounding excited.

“Not exactly. But it’s really interesting nonetheless. It’s kind of a surprise,” Bill replied and smiled at Mabel. Dipper made a face.

“A surprise? What the hell are you talking about?” Dipper groaned and caught up to both of them. Something seemed off here and he wasn’t sure if he was just being paranoid or not. Plus that smile just didn’t look… right.

“Don’t be such a buzzkill, Dipper.” Mabel sighed and shrugged.

“Yeah, Dipper. Lighten up a bit.” Bill added and chuckled. Alright. That was really weird. Since when did Bill call him Dipper? Sure, sometimes he did, but most of the time it was some dumb nickname that he had secretly grown to enjoy.

He didn’t reply and followed them both. This wasn’t going like he had planned. 

Bill and Mabel seemed to chat a bit in the front and it was just all the more confusing that Bill was so eagerly talking about a lot of silly things. It was like he had completely changed his mind while he was gone for a few minutes.

And then they arrived at the cliff. It was definitely peculiar, since it was just a giant cliff in the middle of this small island. Well, maybe it was less of a cliff and more of a chasm into the earth. It reached pretty deep, maybe even below sea level and deep down water could be seen. There were a bunch of glowing crystals in the walls.

“Woah! that’s really pretty,” Mabel said, but kept a distance from the edge. “Look at the crystals, Dip!” she added and Dipper walked to her side, peeking into the depth. He felt really uncomfortable now.

“Yeah, that’s great, but why is it so special that you had to keep it such a secret, Bill?” he asked and narrowed his eyes at the pirate.

Bill didn’t answer and just smirked at them. Dipper also noted that the human had stepped back a little so he was standing behind them. Dipper’s throat felt dry and he glanced at the edge.

“You’re not planning to-” he croaked, but Bill cut him off.

“Sorry, kids. But you’re not very welcome here. This is my place and it will stay my place!” the person in front of him hissed, coming closer. This was definitely not Bill. 

“Mabel. Get out of here,” Dipper hissed and pushed himself protectively in front of his hatch-mate. “That is not Bill. It might look like him, but it’s not.” 

Mabel gasped, but nodded and darted off to the side into the jungle while Dipper flung himself at the fake. Not-Bill let out a gasp and then a snarl that a human should not be able to produce. Dipper managed to land a punch in the other’s face, but then he got kneed in the stomach and reeled back, landing on his side on the ground.

He gasped for air while not-Bill hovered above him and pressed his boot onto Dipper’s neck, cutting off his airflow. He tried to claw at the other’s leg to no avail.

“Stupid siren boy. You’re going to die now,” the creature chuckled and kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying back towards the edge of the cliff. His heart rate picked up as he felt the ground beneath him crumble. 

When he tried to get up the floor beneath him shifted and he screamed as he started to fall, barely hanging on with both hands.

Then he heard fighting noises from above and the creature’s pained screech followed by silence. Footsteps hurried to the cliff and Bill leaned over the edge, panic on his face. He reached out and pulled Dipper back up again.

The siren’s heart was still racing when he was finally on solid ground again.

“Are you ok, Dipper?” Bill exclaimed, sounding worried. But Dipper didn’t have any of it. He pushed away from the pirate and got back up on his feet.

“What’s it to you!? You left us! How do I even know you’re the real Bill?” he snarled and the human blinked.

With a deep sigh the pirate walked over to him and took Dipper’s face in his hands.

“I’m sorry about being an idiot before. You don’t deserve half the shit I give you. I thought I’d just lost you over there!” Bill said. The sincerity and slight panic in his voice made Dipper relax.   
This was definitely the real one. He groaned, but reached up and took Bill’s hands.

“No it’s… it’s fine. I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to explode on you. How did you find me in time anyway?” he asked and leaned against the man’s chest.

“I heard your sister call for me and then the commotion,” Bill explained and wrapped his arms around Dipper, pulling him closer. The boy could hear that Bill’s heart was beating a little faster than usual. 

“Jeez, I almost lost you because I couldn’t get myself under control. I can’t believe it. How can you even stand me?” Bill mumbled and Dipper could’ve sworn he heard a slight whimper in the human’s voice.

“Well, you’ve got good looks. And sometimes you can be nice. Not often, but, eh, I’ll take it,” Dipper chuckled, hoping to cheer Bill up a bit again. It worked.

“Watch your mouth or I push you down that chasm after all,” Bill laughed, but only pulled Dipper closer, prompting him to wrap his arms around Bill too. This was nice. He could just go with this. Hugs could be enough for him.

“You’re…. on my… island. I don’t like others on _my_ island!”

Shit. 

They had forgotten about the other Bill.


	15. Set

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS MY FAVOURITE CHAPTER I STG. IT'S CHEESY BUT I DON'T CARE.  
> Song is [Bittersweet by Ellie Goulding](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoO59keQFq4)  
> more adorable fanart:  
> [chikamii-art](http://chikamii-art.tumblr.com/post/129574975483/it-was-late-and-my-mind-likes-so-draw-sirens)  
> [damaredesigns](http://damaredesigns.tumblr.com/post/129677163607/fanart-for-crispych0colates-fanfic-out-of-the)  
> 

Dipper felt himself being shoved behind Bill as the pirate let go of him and stepped in front of the boy instead. The siren rolled his eyes but peeked around Bill to narrow his eyes at the imposter. He looked exactly like the pirate, but his face was now much angrier and he was shaking slightly. Plus, his nose was bleeding.

“What the hell are you?” Bill hissed and pulled his sword, holding it in front of himself. The other Bill mimicked the action and drew his own sword. This was more than strange.

“The question is what am I not?” the creature replied and a grin split his face as he suddenly changed, taking the form of Dipper’s hatch-mate instead, still with the sword in hand. The siren’s eyes widened, finally understanding.

“Oh my god, a shape shifter! Ford mentioned them once. They can take any form that they see!” he explained hurriedly. Realization hit him. Mabel was still alone somewhere.

“I need to find her!” he cried out and before Bill could reply he had already run off into the forest again. His heart was beating rapidly while he dashed through the undergrowth, frantically looking for his sibling.

“Mabel? Mabel!” he called, too out of breath to actually sing to find her faster. He could tell that Bill was not following him and felt a little bad about leaving him with the monster, but right now his first priority was Mabel’s safety.

“Dipper!” He sighed in relief as he heard her voice from somewhere further ahead. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He heard a shriek as he crashed into someone the next moment. 

For a moment, he saw stars while his entire face hurt, his nose most of all. It was a dull throb that made him groan.

"Dipper! Are you alright?" He barely registered Mabel resting her hand on his cheek.

"Ow... yes... in a moment," he whimpered. Mabel helped him get back onto his feet after the worst of the pain had passed.

"Sorry, I didn't see you. I was trying to lose fake Bill without landing on my own butt," the girl snickered apologetically. "Where's the guy anyway?"

"Oh no! Bill!" Dipper exclaimed, turning on the spot to see what direction he had come from.

"Yeah. Duh. Where's the monster?" Mabel repeated her question, prompting Dipper to shake his head frantically.

"I left the real Bill with shape shifter Bill. Well, I mean when I left it was impersonating you. Ford told me about a creature that can turn into everything it sees and when it changed from Bill into you I thought it might have hurt you, so I ran to find you," the boy tried to explain without panicking.

It took Mabel a moment, but then the implications of the information became clear to her.

"So you left the real Bill with a murderous monster?" she screeched and Dipper nodded before grabbing her hand and running back in the direction from which he had come.

He ran back through the bushes, not even noticing all the different cuts he had gotten on his body during the entire ordeal. Mabel followed him as best as she could and soon they broke out of the treeline to see both Bills locked in full combat. Apparently, the shape shifter had decided it would be better to be Bill instead of Mabel.

“Oh great. Which one’s the real one?” Mabel groaned while Dipper bit his lip, trying to figure out the same thing. They needed to act fast because the two didn’t seem to notice that they were awfully close to the chasm.

Mabel suddenly clapped her hands and turned to Dipper, grabbing his shoulders.

“Of course! Sing. Maybe the other thing isn’t resistant!” the girl exclaimed. When Dipper only blinked she rolled her eyes. “Do it!” she hissed, finally making the boy jump. He quickly nodded and took a deep breath, letting his song ring out clearly over the sounds of the fighting.

  
_“Your arms around me come undone._  
_Makes my heart beat like a drum._  
_See the panic in my eyes._  
_Kiss me only when i cry._  
_‘Cause you always want what you’re running from_  
_And you know this is more than you can take.”_  


Dipper had closed his eyes while singing because otherwise he would definitely lose concentration on putting as much magic into it as possible. The words just came to him without thinking too much about it. Eventually, it got pretty silent around him, but it was only when Mabel nudged him that he opened his eyes again to look at the scene.

Both Bills were looking at him, although it was pretty easy to distinguish the one under the spell from the original. The shapeshifter just gently smiled while the original Bill just made a face. He looked slightly concerned and annoyed at the same time. It was almost amusing to the siren.

  
_“Baby, don’t forget my name_  
_when the morning breaks us._  
_Baby, please don’t look away_  
_when the morning breaks us.”_  


Dipper continued singing, but did tilt his head towards the shapeshifter slightly urgently. Bill finally seemed to remember what was really important and with a fast motion he plunged his sword right into the imposter’s back, translucent blood spilling onto the forest floor. The sight made Dipper uneasy. Mabel seemed to be freaked out as well, because she made a noise of surprise when Bill even went as far chopping the other’s head off.

Dipper averted his gaze and turned to Mabel instead, making her face away. The shapeshifter reverted back to his original form, which looked pretty disgusting. At least he was dead.

The boy tensed when he felt hands on his shoulders. They were sticky with blood and he had to fight the urge to pull away.

“Let’s head back to the beach. I think I’m all adventured out for now,” Bill’s voice sounded rather empty. His hands left the siren and Dipper turned to face Bill, but the pirate was already walking away.

“I can’t believe he just had to kill himself. Literally. You should go and see if he’s fine. I’ll be right behind you,” Mabel whispered to Dipper and the boy nodded before hurrying to catch up with the other man. 

When he did, he hesitated, but then reached out to take Bill’s hand, even if it was kind of disgusting with all the bloodstains. To his surprise, the pirate didn’t pull away.

“Are you ok?” Dipper asked quietly, earning a shaky sigh from Bill.

“Eh, I guess. It’s just weird, decapitating yourself. What about you, though?” Bill replied and turned to frown at Dipper.

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? I mean, watching you get killed was kind of weird but hey, it wasn’t really you, so no big deal,” the siren answered with a slight shrug.

“No, I mean that song. What was that about?” The question caught Dipper off guard. Why was Bill asking about that of all things?

“I just tried to distract the shapeshifter. I guess I also let my feelings into the song, but you don’t need to worry too much about that,” the boy mumbled and scratched the back of his head with his free hand, awkwardly looking away.

Bill was quiet after that for the rest of the walk, but he never let go of Dipper’s hand and eventually even laced their fingers together, surprising the boy once again.

They passed the place where they had slept and walked straight on. Mabel had caught up to them again when she noticed they weren’t talking anymore.

“Oh man, that was exciting. But I think I’ll go straight back into the sea when we get there. Land life’s not for me,” she sighed, making Dipper chuckle.

His amusement died off though when Bill answered, “Can I keep your brother for a while longer, though? There’s some things we need to set straight, I think.” 

“Oh, uh. Sure. He can do what he wants,” Mabel replied, shooting Dipper a questioning look that he could only answer with a distressed shrug.

The sun was tinting the horizon purple and orange when they finally reached the beach again. Mabel was quick to take off the shirt that Bill had given her the other day and handed it back to the pirate, who wordlessly gave it to Dipper. While the siren boy pulled it over his head he could hear his hatch-mate curse and whine a bit. When he could see again he laughed as he saw her struggling with walking on the tons of broken seashells on the sandy floor.

When she tripped though he stopped laughing and was about to walk over to her when Bill picked her up, carrying her to the sea. He hated the way his heart hurt at the sight of his crush carrying his sibling like that. The sun illuminated the both of them, highlighting Mabel’s bright smile and he had to turn away.

They seemed to be talking about something and Dipper let himself fall into the sand. Without really thinking about it he reached up and grabbed the triangle shaped pendant, draping his other arm across his eyes.

He could hear a splash, Mabel shouting goodbye and then footsteps that came closer until they stopped next to him. Apparently Bill sat down as well.

“If you want me to leave I can just do that, you know. You don’t need to tell me that you don’t actually want me,” Dipper mumbled, sounding rather bitter.

“Why are you thinking like that, star child? Do you really think I’d be worried sick about you if I actually didn’t want you around?” Bill asked and he sounded both amused, as well as sad. Dipper pulled his arm away from his eyes and sat up, finding that he was sitting really close to the human.

“I just assumed, because you kept being weird about us ever since we landed on this island. I know you explained it a little yesterday, but it’s still frustrating if you keep taking your anger out on me. I love you Bill and I don’t want to pretend I don’t. You can leave it or take it,” Dipper rambled, noticing that his throat felt tight the more he talked. He knew he'd cry if he said anything else, so he just clamped his mouth shut.

“Yes,” Bill groaned and ran a hand through his hair.

“Yes? What kind of answer is that?” Dipper exclaimed frustratedly, making a face at Bill.

“Yes, you’re right with all of that. I’ve been terrible towards you the entire day. I just didn’t know what to make of your confession. Dipper, I’ve never felt like this for anyone before and I’m confused about who I am. I didn’t mean to take it all out on you, but I did. In a way, I guess it was kind of refreshing getting to stab myself,” a halfhearted laugh followed that explanation.

“So what does that mean for us now? Because I want clarity,” Dipper huffed and rested his head on his knees. 

“I’ve come to the conclusion that my life as it is now would be empty without you. I don’t know what I feel for you, but I want to spend time with you and get to know you for real. You’re the only person that’s ever showed this much affection for me and you’re not even a human. That’s kind of pathetic. I’m not surprised though.” Dipper stared at Bill, a smile slowly starting to spread over his face. 

“Argh! I can’t do this. I just can’t!” Bill suddenly cursed and threw his hands up into the air before letting himself fall onto his back, glaring up at the evening sky.

Laughter filled the air as Dipper moved to lean over the pirate. It was amusing and endearing how distressed the human was about admitting his emotions. Dipper had been there himself and he was slightly shocked that he wasn’t nearly as shy about his feelings as he used to be.

Bill seemed pretty offended by Dipper’s glee. 

“You appear to find this amusing,” Bill hissed, waiting for Dipper’s chuckling to cease. When he finally did stop Dipper sighed, smiling fondly down at the pirate. The human’s face tinted a little red.

“I’m just glad you want to be with me!” Dipper chimed and lay down next to Bill, wrapping his arm around the other.

“Yeah, whatever. It’s not like I think you’re cute or something,” the pirate muttered but Dipper detected the faint smile. He left that uncommented on. They lay like that for a while and watched the sky grow darker as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Eventually, Bill broke the silence.

“I really like it when you sing. Especially what you sang earlier.” 

Dipper turned his head to glance up at Bill. It was kind of special to hear that his singing was nice from a human. Most humans were put under the spell and of course loved it. But Bill could take it for what it was and it was a really nice compliment. 

“Do you want me to sing again?” Dipper asked carefully, resting his hand on Bill’s chest in the meantime. 

“Yes,” Bill said after a pause where he seemed a little unsure about admitting it.

 

Dipper closed his eyes and waited a moment, listening to the gentle sound of the waves lapping at the beach.

  
_“Your cheek is softly by the sun._  
_Makes my heart beat like a drum._  
_I know it hurts you, I know it burns you_  
_Hot and cold on this lonely seashore._  
_Look into me, tell me why you’re crying, I need to know._  
_‘Cause you always want what you’re running from._  
_And it’s always been that way.”_  


Dipper felt Bill’s breathing go a bit faster. When he peered up he could see that the man was facing away from him and Dipper knew he was holding back tears. His heart ached at the sight and the siren inched closer, tugging Bill more against him.

  
_“Baby, don’t forget my name_  
_when the morning breaks us._  
_Baby, please don’t look away_  
_when the morning breaks us._  
_Oh your touch, so bittersweet._  
_Ahhhahahh”_  


At one point Bill had wrapped his own arm around Dipper even though he was still facing the other side.

  
_“‘Cause you always want what you’re running from.”_  


The sun had vanished and the stars were out when Bill moved and turned to face Dipper. The siren finished his song and before he could get another word out Bill kissed his nose. His face grew warm and his eyes wide.

“I won’t run anymore. Because I’ve already got what I want,” Bill mumbled. Dipper could see the light glaze to the other’s eye, the only thing indicating that the man had cried. He kept his mouth shut about it. Instead he reached up to stroke Bill’s cheek.

“I want you too. Exactly as you are,” Dipper replied and returned the kiss to the nose. He found that he didn’t care about kissing or other things as long as he could just be with his captain.


	16. Below

Dipper was woken by a loud splash not too far from the shore. He blinked and rubbed his eyes while untangling himself from Bill’s embrace, the sun shining down on them already. The siren hadn’t even noticed that he’d fallen asleep, not that he really wanted to get up either. 

“Dipper!” upon hearing the voice he almost jumped up. Bill seemed to wake up as well, but Dipper was too distracted by Stanford’s head poking out of the sea. 

“What are you doing here? Didn’t Mabel tell you I was staying for the night?” Dipper asked in confusion and sat up, rubbing some sand off his face. Bill had pushed himself into a sitting position next to him and leaned against his side, obviously still trying to wake up properly.

“She did. But that’s not the point. You need to come back to the colony. Your place isn’t here!” the older man almost growled, the bioluminescent spots on his body lighting up a little, indicating that he was actually angry.

Dipper frowned. Where was that coming from all of a sudden? Ford had been the one to say that they shouldn’t hold him back after all. 

“Are you pulling a Stanley now? Because I will fight both of you if you try to tell me what to do. I’m not a child anymore,” Dipper spat back, feeling embarrassed about this entire ordeal happening in front of the human. When he glanced at Bill though he was even more confused, since the human just stared at Stanford, recognition clearly visible in his eye.

“And I will get on land and drag you back into the water if you don’t come here this instant,” Ford snarled, baring his teeth. He had never seen his mentor this angry. Something was definitely wrong. Then the older siren glared at Bill.

“Looks like you better get going, star child,” the human mumbled, surprising Dipper. The siren turned to frown at him, but Bill shrugged and gave him a crooked smile, then leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“Don’t look at me like that, it’s not like I’m going anywhere,” he added and laughed.

Dipper could tell that Stanford was getting more agitated by the minute. Bill was right, he needed to leave.

“I’ll see you,” the boy sighed and smiled back at the pirate before getting up, returning the shirt that he was still wearing, and walking to the water’s edge, wading into the waves. His tail returned soon enough. He looked back one last time before dipping below the surface, anger making its way onto his face as he swam over to Stanford, who had dipped back below the surface as well.

Before he could open his mouth and protest, his mentor had grabbed his wrist, pulling him deeper into the ocean towards their home.

“What is wrong with you? Stop pulling me, I can swim just fine!” Dipper protested, trying to rip away from the older siren. Stanford stopped short and whirled around to face Dipper, his eye glowing red. Dipper’s eyes widened in surprise and Stanford seemed to realize he was freaking him out because the other siren calmed down again, letting go of the younger.

“Sorry, Dipper. It’s just that I can’t watch you get too involved with _this_ human. I didn’t know it was Bill Cipher you were talking about. I only got that when Mabel mentioned the treasure map,” Stanford explained, swimming idly left and right on the spot.

“Wait, what are you talking about? How do you know him?” Dipper asked, utterly confused. This didn’t make sense. Bill couldn’t be much older than 26. And he himself was 22. Stanford was at least 68. It didn’t make any sense to him that the older Siren could know the pirate. Stanford looked rather uncomfortable.

“Dipper, there are things you and your sister don’t know about me. I’ve tried to keep all of this a secret to protect you from the mistakes I’ve made in the past,” he said, sounding awfully cryptic.

The boy crossed his arms and made a face. He knew there was something about Stanford he hadn’t discovered yet, but he never really wanted to ask. But now Stanford claimed to know Bill and it made him nervous.

“Look, Ford. Whatever it is you want to warn me about, I’m just going to say that I love Bill. And I want to be with him! I know that he’s a human and he’s probably not the best one at that, but I know that he likes me too. I’ve never felt like this before,” Dipper interrupted his mentor. He was curious, but his feelings for the humans were stronger in this moment.

The other just stared at him, mouth open wide. He looked like he was going to protest.

“I want him to become a siren! I know there must be a spell for that if a kiss from us grants a human the ability to breath underwater,” Dipper blurted out, looking rather desperate and stubborn.

“Dipper, you can’t be serious. You don’t know him-”

“No! You don’t know him! I don’t care what kind of history you two have. I know we're meant to be. Please, Stanford. Don’t make me choose between you two.” Dipper exclaimed and Stanford hissed but then rubbed his face.

“I suppose you might be right. I don’t… I suppose I don’t really know him. There is indeed a spell, but you should really think about this again,” his mentor replied after a moment of silence. Dipper relaxed a little and nodded. He hadn’t told Bill about the idea anyway. 

“So what was that about things you didn’t tell us?” the younger boy eventually asked again.

“It’s… well it’s complicated. I don't think I’m ready to explain it yet after all. I probably just got too worried. Nevermind, Dipper,” Stanford replied and turned to swim back.

“Wait, what? You can’t do that! Just tell me, don’t you trust me?” Dipper exclaimed and quickly followed.

“I do trust you, that’s why I think it’s best if you don’t know. If Bill makes you happy I suppose my suspicions were unrelated anyway. Let the past stay in the past,”. 

It was awfully frustrating and usually Dipper would have insisted on hearing the story, but now he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to.

Whatever had happened between Bill and his mentor, it was sure to be something bad and Dipper would gladly just forget about it again. Of course the curiosity nagged at him anyways. 

Before he could really start to get suspicious though, he heard Mabel and Wendy coming towards them. 

“A ship! A ship just landed on the island!” Mabel exclaimed as soon as the two girls spotted them both. Dipper gasped and Stanford immediately looked upwards, scanning the surface which was rather far away by now.

“Do you think it’s the pirates again? That’d be cool,” Wendy asked Dipper, looking rather excited.

“N-no, I don’t think so. They have no reason to come back. They probably think Bill’s dead,” Dipper replied nervously. 

“Well, whoever they are, we better check it out!” Mabel sang and started swimming towards the surface. But Stanford grabbed the end of her tail fin. 

“Not so fast! We need to be careful,” the red tailed siren shook his head before shouting in surprise as Dipper dashed past him to the surface, ignoring the man’s advice. He could tell that Wendy was close behind him, but he didn’t look back. Somewhere below he heard Mabel and Stanford argue before their voices followed him up as well.

A few seconds later he breached the surface, Wendy’s head appearing right next to him. He looked around and then spotted the ship. It was big and didn’t look like the pirate ship at all. It looked much nicer. The ship had anchored a few yards away from the shore, but Dipper also saw a small rowboat lying on the beach.

“A navy ship!” Stanford muttered a moment after breaking the surface close to Dipper.

“What’s a navy?” Mabel asked while Wendy started swimming forward, her long red hair floating on top of the surface.

“The navy is part of the human warfare system, mainly on the sea, similar to the army, which is the same thing on land. Usually they travel in groups of ships, called a fleet, when attacking an enemy. I assume that this ship is searching for pirates as well, since pirates usually terrorize other seafarers,” the old man tried to explain.

“So they might be looking for Bill?” Mabel sounded as worried as Dipper felt. Well, maybe not just as worried. He felt sick. Bill was nowhere in sight on the beach and it itched in his tail to swim over there right now, knowing full well that this was a terrible idea.

Wendy must have sensed his distress because she swam close to him and rested her hands on his shoulders.

“Relax, dude. Don’t you dare panic now,” she said, giving him an optimistic grin. It did calm him down a little and he nodded. He was still bobbing rather anxiously on the spot, trying to make out what was going on over there.

“We just got together. They can’t catch him,” he whined, his voice carrying the hint of a melody. He had never really known what it felt like to have a mate and all his little crushes had never led him anywhere, but this was different. He could tell that Bill was his, even if the other couldn’t even sing. There was just something between them that fit together. 

“Boy, you got it bad,” Wendy said sympathetically. Mabel swam in front of Dipper and ran a hand through his hair, opening her mouth to sing a little melody to calm him down. He appreciated her effort, but it really didn’t help the dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Then something on the island moved, catching all of their attention. Bill emerged from the treeline, being closely followed by a man with jet black hair and some pretty fancy looking clothes. The stranger seemed to have bound Bill’s hands behind the pirate’s back. Two other people came out of the forest as well, both of them carrying swords and guns.

“No,” Dipper choked out and made an attempt to swim to the island only to be stopped by both Stanford and Wendy.

“You can’t let them take him!” Dipper snarled but his mentor shook his head.

“If we actually kill the entire crew, they will just send more ships to this place! It will be a danger to the whole colony. We can’t risk it. The only thing you could do is try and follow them,” Stanford said. It was hard to accept, but Dipper had to agree to the reason. He couldn’t risk everyone’s safety for his own selfish purposes.

“Then I’ll do that. I’ll follow them wherever,” he said determined to do so.

“I’m coming with you, Dippin-Dots! There’s no way I’ll let you leave again without making sure you’ll come back,” his hatch-mate declared. At first Dipper wanted to protest, but he smiled instead and nodded. The days where he had to protect Mabel were long over and he had to admit that she would be a big help. 

“I’d come too, but I doubt I’d be of much use. The human world ain’t really my type of thing. I wish you the best of luck though,” Wendy sighed and gave them a thumbs up.

“What about you Fordsy? Are you coming? You seem to know a lot about humans,” Mabel asked, while Dipper watched the rowboat reach the big ship. They’d need to move fast so they wouldn’t lose it. He saw that Bill and the other strange guy in the fancy clothes were staring each other down. It kind of hurt that Bill didn’t even try to look for him, but, then again, the human probably thought that he was back in his colony.

“No, Mabel. This isn’t my business. But I hope you’ll return safely, one way or another. Oh and Dipper,” Stanford caught Dipper’s attention, “the spell to turn a human into a siren can only really be executed if the emotional connection between them is strong enough. I suppose that shouldn’t be a problem.” 

Dipper nodded as Stanford sung him the words that made up the spell. Siren spells were similar to their songs, but comprised of different tones and clicking noises that no human could imitate. 

“Thank you, Stanford,” Dipper nodded towards his mentor who just shrugged and vanished below the surface again. Wendy waved one last time and then followed, leaving the two siblings alone.

Mabel and Dipper looked at each other for a moment and proceeded to swim towards the ship. By now they had started to pull the anchor up again and set sail towards an unknown destination.

The twins reached the ship, finding that they could hang onto it’s stern instead of having to constantly keep up with swimming.

“Do you think Bill will want to come live with us?” Mabel asked after a good while of silence, making Dipper frown.

“I don’t know. I hope so,” he answered, looking up to the surface. He longed to be up there as well, finding that he didn’t mind the painful act of turning as much as his worry over Bill.

\---

Just a few minutes after Dipper had left with the other siren, Bill spotted the ship. The instant he saw it he jumped up onto his feet, hurrying to get into the forest. It was pretty clearly a navy ship, indicating that they were looking for him. He didn’t know why exactly they were heading for this island, but it dawned on him that they must have seized the Mindscape. He wondered if Gideon told them where to find him, although his crew probably thought he was dead. Then again, his first mate wasn’t stupid. He probably knew Dipper would have saved him.

Bill walked deeper into the forest, but this didn’t help him in the end. He could hear leaves rustling behind him eventually and he took a deep breath, turning around to face the commodore.

His eyes widened a bit before a smirk crept onto his face.

“Long time no see, Tad. Since when are you in the navy? Doesn’t seem like something you’d enjoy,” he said smoothly, glancing around as two other men in blue uniforms came up behind him, guns pointed at him.

“You’re mistaken then, Cipher. I enjoy this very much. You haven’t changed. At all,” the man in front of him replied, keeping his poker face. Tad Strange was a little bit taller than Bill, with jet black hair that was now groomed nicely and mostly hidden beneath his big hat with a poofy feather. He was clearly a man of power in a rather high position. 

“Don’t let my appearance fool you, Tad. I’ve changed. Not that you’re here for small talk,” Bill shrugged, keeping his posture rather relaxed. He knew there was no way to fight all three men anyway. Now all he could do was keep the damage as small as possible. That also meant keeping his mouth shut about the sirens.

“No. I am not. Bill Cipher, you are hereby arrested and charged for piracy. You will be brought back to Port Town, where you will be executed, by hanging, for your crimes,” Tad announced and turned back around while one of his men grabbed Bill’s arms and twisted them onto his back, binding the wrists together.

The pirate hissed but didn’t fight it. There was no point.

“Hah! You think you can get back at me this easily, ya old square?” Bill laughed as he was being shoved forward to follow the commodore. 

“It doesn’t matter what I think. But whether or not you want to believe it, this isn’t about revenge. It’s my job, Cipher. I’ve become a righteous man,” Tad huffed, following the trail that led back to the ship.

“Sure you did,” Bill rolled his eye. There was no way that Tad didn’t have his own agenda in mind. He knew him too well. 

They didn’t speak anymore as they brought Bill back to the ship. He could have sworn he’d spotted two heads above the surface while they were in the little rowboat, but he kept his gaze on Tad, not wanting to risk blowing the sirens’ cover.

He had wanted to get back on a ship. But a brig was certainly not what the pirate had in mind.

“Jeez, I gotta make it up to the kid if he bails me out of this one too,” Bill mumbled to himself after he’d been chained to a wall below the deck and left alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week I will update Chapter 17 and 18 at the same time because I will be gone on the 15th, so I can't update. And on the 22nd the final Chapter will be uploded then! We're nearing the end :D


	17. Dead ahead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that is mentioned is Beside you by Phildel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN15rleZkIY

Five days without much food or water could break a man. Luckily, Bill had long since stopped counting days - not that it stopped his stomach from growling or his throat from hurting. He had been thrown in brigs before but that had been a good while ago. His entire body ached, feet feeling numb, and his skin felt clammy from the terrible conditions under deck. The air was too warm and he didn’t have enough oxygen. 

Every once in awhile someone would come downstairs to bring him some food that was less than good and he was pretty sure some of the bread he got was moldy as well. He felt sick but had long since emptied his stomach, spending most of the time drifting in and out of consciousness, dreaming of better days and occasionally - well really most of the time - Dipper’s face. Sometimes he could have sworn he heard his voice too, faint and from outside the walls, but he blamed his delirious mind for that. 

All in all, he could say he had been in worse situations. Of course that didn’t help him much at this point, but at least he could tell himself that he would get out of this ship eventually. Even if it meant being walked to the gallows. 

He couldn’t even tell if it was night or day when the door opened and Tad Strange walked inside, looking as smug as always. That bastard was probably laughing about him on the inside.

“Aye, come to witness my downfall, Glowy Eyes?” Bill slurred, his voice sounding rather hoarse.

“Is that the best you can come up with? Glowy Eyes, really? But then again you do look like shit. I should not expect an intelligent conversation here.” Tad snorted and shook his head.

“Oh shut your face, asshole. What’d you even come down here for?” Bill snarled and rolled his eye in annoyance. He was too tired, hurt and sick to entertain this self-righteous idiot with ‘intelligent conversations’ anyway. 

Tad stepped closer before crouching down in front of the pirate, seizing him up for a moment. Then he pulled something out of his jacket. Bill blinked when he recognized that it was an eye patch. Not his, per se, but at least a working one. Tad proceeded to actually wrap it around Bill’s head, concealing his hurt eye again.

“Wow, thanks so much. I’m getting all emotional here, Commodore.” Bill commented, a sly grin making its way onto his face.

“Don’t think too much of it. It’s just really revolting to look at your face like this.” Tad grumbled. It was hard to miss the purple glow to the man’s eyes in the darkness of the ship. 

“How long has it been, Cipher?” the question surprised the pirate. Bill scoffed, trying to think of an adequate answer.

“Dunno, really. A while. Maybe five years?” he snorted, shrugging lazily.

“It’s been twenty three years, Bill. And you haven’t changed a bit. I mean that literally. How? I want you to answer this before you will be hanging by the neck.” Tad sounded frustrated.

“Shit, twenty three? The time sure flies!” Bill just commented, his grin widening. “Didn’t even notice. Thought now that you say so, you do look older! Worse than before actually. You should get more beauty sleep, old man!” 

“Quit with your games, you insufferable rat!” Tad snarled, grabbing Bill’s collar and roughly yanking him forward. “You still look exactly like you did back when I first met you! That doesn’t add up. What are you?” 

Bill groaned at the sudden movement but just shrugged. 

“I’m as much of a human as you are, Two Face” he replied coldly, the answer resulting in Tad letting go of him. 

“That was entirely your fault. If you hadn’t played with magic like that… Nevermind! You can rot away in here until we reach the port for all I care!” The man spat and was quick to get back onto his feet, making his way to the door.

“I really don’t know, Tad. I can’t remember shit. You know, time kinda loses it’s meaning once you notice that it doesn’t affect you like everyone else. You can make of that whatever you want. The answer is out there somewhere, but without me alive what does it matter?” Bill called after him.

The man paused and cast one last glance back at Bill before shaking his head and leaving again. The ship swayed and Bill sat in darkness, thinking about the implications of this conversation. Then he closed his eye again, listening to the waves rocking against the ship and imagining a soft melody coming from outside.

_When there’s nothing but dark and sound,_  
I will be beside you.  
When there’s nothing but the long way ‘round,  
I will be beside you.  
I’ll be everywhere you go, you go, you go…. 

 

He fell back asleep, the voice carrying him into a better world inside his dreams. 

\----

Port Town was as underwhelming as it sounded. It was just a small harbour that smelled mostly like fish and unwashed people, it was noisy as hell and everyone seemed to be too busy with their own problems to give two shits about any other person. The only thing that made this place special was the rather noble house towering above the town on a small cliff side, that obviously belonged to a rich family. Bill had not missed this place. 

While he was being forced along the road to the prison complex, he could see a few people looking after him. Recognition and confusion seemed to be a common theme in the looks he received. He ignored all of them. He really had no more business with the people of this place, that was all long ago. Even if he didn’t remember how long it had really been.

At one point someone threw a stone at him and if it hadn’t been for the guns pointed at his back by the navy men, he’d have gutted the person right there and then. 

It was kind of like a walk of shame, making Bill even feel slightly relieved when he was finally led into the prison complex. Well, that was until he was brought to his cell. The first thing he saw was a bunch of other men, all penned up in a rather large cell.

He burst into laughter at the disbelieving face of Gideon, staring at him through the bars.

“Didn’t get really far there, eh you traitor?” Bill exclaimed, still pretty amused by the situation. He was shoved into the cell right next to the other’s, thankful that he wasn’t being forced into one room with them. The place did smell pretty awful though and after some inspection, there was definitely some kind of mold on the wall. That was even worse than the belly of the ship. But it wasn’t like Bill had expected anything better.

“How are ya still alive?!” Gideon yelled at him from the other cell. It made Bill giggle again.

“Did you really think that a simple piece of cloth could effectively gag a siren? Especially underwater? It’s funny how dumb you actually are!” Bill replied and settled down on the small cot in the corner of the room. He lay on his back, arms crossed behind his back.

“Don’t you tell me that monster actually saved ya life.” came the disbelieving reply.

“Aye, he did. What can I say? I must be the first human to charm a siren. The kid’s head over fins for me.” Bill retorted, sounding rather smug.

“Charming someone? You? That must be a bad joke.” Gideon groaned in reply. Bill could hear Giffany snicker as well, rolling his eye. He was surprised to find they actually didn’t separate them into different prisons, but then again they were all probably awaiting death. No real reason to make it even more complicated.

“Say, what’d you do to my ship? Where’s the mindscape?” Bill changed the subject, not really wanting to talk about Dipper with these assholes anymore.

“The ship’s fine, Captain. It’s probably somewhere here in the port. We were completely outmatched against the navy ships that suddenly surrounded us. They took the ship back with us to the port.” That was Robbies voice, now.

“Quit calling him Captain! I’m your Captain now!” Gideon screeched angrily his voice sounding like fingers on a chalkboard. Bill cringed and cupped his ears.

“Sorry, Captain.” came the reply. It sounded more sarcastic than apologetic, and Bill was pleased to find that at least some of his old crew still respected him.

“Well, how long have you suckers been in here?” Bill asked after a while of silence and ran a hand through his very disgusting hair. Jeez, he wished for nothing more than a nice bath, but they’d hardly care to let him wash up before he died. 

“A few days. We’ve come here like three days ago.” Giffany replied. She sounded uncharacteristically calm. He’d had expected her to whine or something but it seemed they all had realized that they were just waiting for execution. Unlike him they probably all were very worried about that. Bill himself didn’t have any problems with death. The only regret he had now was not spending as much time with the blue-eyed siren as he would have liked to. 

But then again, part of him still thought that it was better this way. Then Dipper could move on and find someone that would actually make him happy instead of giving him a hard time every other day. No matter how often he told himself this though, he could never deny the fact that he longed to see the boy again. To feel his breath on his skin when they were holding each other or to see the calm expression on his face when he slept. 

He bit his lip and turned onto his side, facing the wall He needed to stop chasing dreams that would never come true. 

\---

Bill was entirely certain that, whoever decided their fate, was just letting them rot away in prison instead of actually hanging them. At this point he was almost yearning for the damn noose. That would be better than being stuck in this place for days. It had been at least another three days ever since he arrived here and the food was worse than on the ship. He had heard someone in the other room throw up and pointedly decided just not to eat whatever they had been given that day.

Then someone finally came. 

He was lying on his side again, back facing the door, when he heard the creaking sound of the metal being opened. 

“Come on, get up Cipher.” Tad’s voice echoed through the cell, making Bill huff out an exasperated breath.

“Tad, I would have prefered the devil himself to come and escort me. Why you? Aren’t you above that kind of thing?” Bill replied but he did get off his cot, swaying on his feet. It was hard to stand, let alone walk, that’s how weak he had become. 

“I personally requested to be the one to escort you. I thought you might appreciate it to be an old friend. Guess I was wrong.” The other man said, with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh, no, no! It’s appreciated. I mean, you’re the next best thing after the devil.” Bill quickly snarked back, finally managing to walk over to the other. Tad gave him a look of slight disgust and then turned away to walk out of the door.

“I’ve been on the mindscape. The ship changed more than you did, Cipher.” the commodore said as he was leading Bill through the prison. When the pirate passed the cell of his crew he glanced at them for a moment and then turned away. He was done with them. 

“What are you getting at?” he instead brought his attention back to Tad.

“I found the journal. Well, I found two. I remember you having three though, am I correct?” Bill blinked and cursed under his breath. Of course, Tad knew about that.

“I can’t believe you went through my stuff. You have no respect. But yes, I have three. Either you’re not as good as a treasure hunter as you used to be or Gideon, that rat, stole one of them. Which ones do you have?” He asked.

Tad chuckled a little under his breath. “I have Number One and Number Three. I also didn’t know that you knew so much about sirens. Although that handwriting surely didn’t seem too much like you. Are there other things you’re hiding from me, William?” Bill cringed and wrung his hands, in order not to strangle the man in front of him.

“Don’t call me that, for fucks sake. You’re right though. I had a little assistant for the pages on sirens, not that it’s any of your business. Now let’s get that hanging done and over with. I’d much rather meet the executioner than continuing this little chit chat here.” he growled as they stepped outside. The sky was grey and it looked like it would start to rain soon. What a great day for an execution.

They made their way through some smaller streets until they reached a courtyard. The gallows were in the backside of it and a bunch of people had gathered to watch him die. 

“Well, at least I’m getting one last audience.” Bill laughed and put his hands on his hips as he proudly walked through the crowd of booing people. They were all peasants in Bill’s eyes and he couldn’t care less if they hated him. He felt the same. But he loved the attention. This was exactly how he wanted to die. 

“This is your last chance to tell me something, Bill.” Tad said gravely as they stood in front of a small staircase that led up the podium. He even put his hands on the pirate’s shoulders, looking at him intently.

“See you in hell, Two Face.” Bill winked and pulled away to climb the stairs. He heard the soft curse of the marine man behind him but ignored him. Tad only wanted his knowledge for his personal gain anyways. 

The executioner grabbed Bill by the wrist before wrapping some cuffs around them, as if Bill was going to fight. The pirate just rolled his eyes and even stepped onto the platform that would give way beneath his feet when the time had come, all on his own. Although he seemed calm and collected on the outside, yeah even rather cocky, his heart was beating a mile per minute.

He swallowed as the noose was placed around his neck and closed his eye. This was it. The moment he would die. Once he had imagined he'd die in some kind of battle or other rather heroic situation. But this was how it was going to be. Once he would have tried to escape but this was fruitless. While he could probably get back on his ship, he had no crew to help him escape. No one that could prevent this from happening.

Dipper’s face came into his mind and a soft smile made his way onto his lips. This was a nice last thought. 

He waited for the ground to vanish and send him to hell. 

But in his moment of anticipation something else happened instead. A melody. A duet. 

His eye shot open wide and he witnessed the entire crowd turning around to look at two young people that had started to sing a hauntingly mesmerizing melody. They did not fit into the crowd, as they were more beautiful than the rest of the people, even if they wore the same ragged clothes. 

A woman and a man, holding hands and a pair of pink and blue eyes looking at Bill. His heart leaped. It took him a moment to realize that their music had practically frozen the entire crowd, as well as the executioner. When it hit him he quickly reached up and managed to loosen the rope enough to slip out of it and jumped off the podium.

Both sirens reached out for him and his hand slipped into Dipper’s before all three of them started to run and the melody died down again.

“You owe me, Cipher.” Dipper’s voice hissed while they started to escape through the small alleys of the town.

“Anything for you, star child. I knew you’d come.” Bill laughed and didn’t miss the small smile that appeared on Dipper’s face for a moment.

Then all hell broke loose as the other people behind them realized what had happened.


	18. Running Lights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And enjoy another Chapter! Next week there won't be an update because I'm gone. You'll get the final chapter in two weeks! =D

It was kind of frustrating not to know where the ship was going or how long it would take. Mabel and Dipper were forced to just sit outside the ship walls all day, because otherwise they might get too exhausted to follow the ship properly. Some days were easier than others. There was a rather strong storm once that had forced both sirens underwater, because otherwise the waves would have just washed them off their little spot at the far end of the ship.

Of course they also took turns hunting now and then, with one bringing back food for the other. Mabel had been tempted more than once to just sing a man off the deck, but Dipper had held her back, reminding her that it would just give them away. While he did not like the idea of having to go so far from home again, he at least had the consolation that he was in control this time. 

Sometimes when Mabel was gone to hunt or entertain herself he leaned against the wall of the ship, trying to make out sounds from within. He knew that they had probably put Bill in a similar place where the pirate crew had thrown him after the mutiny stunt. But he couldn’t really hear anything. Instead he just sang a few songs, quiet enough that the men on deck would not hear but maybe his words could get to Bill somehow. Of course that was mostly wishful thinking.

Sleeping was also rather difficult and the twins had to take turns each of them making sure that the other wouldn’t slip off or drift away too far.

But then, finally, they reached the land. Mabel saw it first, while Dipper was sleeping.

“Hey! Dippy! Wake up, I think we’re finally there!” She sang into his ear and just shoved him off her lap, into the water, waking him with a start. He gasped and breached the surface. Before he could yell at Mabel he spotted the land in the distance.

“Ugh, about time! I was starting to think we’d never arrive.” he exclaimed and then grabbed Mabel’s wrist, pulling her into the ocean as well. She yelped a little and scoffed.

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t we stay on the ship?” she asked confused but Dipper just shook his head and started swimming into the direction of the land. The ocean wasn’t deep here anymore anyway and some feet below them he could see the faint outline of the ground.

“No. I’ve been thinking.-”

“Oh, now that’s new.” Mabel interrupted with a giggle.

“Shut up! Anyways, I’ve been thinking and it would be very dumb to try and get him free right in the port. There are going to be many other humans there that could actually be a danger to us. Besides, we don’t know where to run and we can’t just drag Bill through the ocean, and the transformation spell needs concentration and time.” the boy explained while glancing out of the water. He swam a little bit to the right, aiming to get on land a good while away from the actual town. They could really not afford to be seen. 

“Mh, yeah that makes sense. But how are we supposed to find him if we lose sight of where they bring him? We know nothing about human cities.” Mabel pointed out.

“Well, we’ll just have to improvise, as much as I hate to say that.” Dipper sighed. 

“Yeah, ok. I can definitely do that. Man, Paz is going to be so mad when she hears where I’ve been.” she snickered, making Dipper groan.

“Great, she’s going to kill me.” he huffed, a little disgruntled. Now that they were mates she’d be even more overprotective. And her wrath didn’t even stop when it came to Dipper.

The sirens eventually reached the land, finding that it was a rather rocky area. The waves hit the shore hard and dragging each other onto the ground was more painful than anticipated. Dipper almost missed the sand. A few ways away grew a lush forest with several different kinds of trees that Dipper was not familiar with and a path that led in the direction of the town.

They both chose a somewhat hidden spot behind a big rock to transform. Dipper knew he would probably never really get used to this and he squeezed Mabel’s hand almost all the way through, making her roll her eyes.

“We need clothes, Dipdop. We’ll just really stand out if we just walk around like this, I got that much from the way Bill reacted on the island.” Mabel hummed about half an hour later, as they were making their way down the small path. 

“Bill’s being weird about bodies but I guess you’re not completely wrong. We’ll definitely need to fit in. Especially now that we have no idea where to go.” He sighed, scratching his head. Where would they even get spare clothes?

They didn’t get to mull that one over for long though. 

“What’cha kids doing on my here property?!” called a scratchy and high pitched voice from behind them before someone knocked Dipper over, making the boy land on his stomach, with someone sitting on his back.

“Ow, what the hell?!” he cursed and tried to push himself up again, but whoever sat on top of him refused to move.

“Mabel! Help!” Dipper cried but Mabel was busy laughing her ass off.

“I know what’cha are! Damn devil fish. Are ye here to lure the whole town to the sea?!” the person currently placed on Dipper’s back asked, voice grating on Dipper’s nerves.

“Oh my god, no. No that’s not why- pfhahah. Dipper, he’s just an old man! Don’t be such a wimp!” Mabel was still chuckling.

Just an old man? Dipper groaned but then pushed himself off the floor in one swift motion, sending the guy on him tumbling to the floor. He quickly jumped onto his feet and faced the stranger. Mabel was right. He was just an old man. The guy in front of him was rather short, had a long white beard and he walked a little funny, as if his back didn’t work quite right anymore. 

The stranger narrowed his eyes at them both for a moment and then rubbed his beard thoughtfully.

“Ya both look terribly familiar….” he mumbled but Dipper was already done with this lunatic.

“Alright, listen here! We’re not here to hurt anyone but we will if you insist on getting in our way.” he snarled. Mabel blinked and walked over to him, hitting him upside the back of his head. 

“Don’t be so rude. What’s gotten into you?” she growled, causing Dipper to blink in mild astonishment.

“Mabes, we’re here for a purpose. Since when do you care about humans so much?” he asked, confusion lacing his words. He really had not expected her to react like this, but then again he had to admit that he would never have been this quick to attack someone before.

“It just wouldn’t be good for us if we kill someone right after coming on land. Think, Dipper! That’s what you're so great at!” his hatch-mate replied sharply before turning her attention back to the old man, who had seemed to have zoned out or was just deep in thought. 

“I’m sorry, my brother here is quick to assume. We’re not here to harm anyone, we’re just looking for a friend. Maybe you could help us out?” Mabel asked, getting the attention of the old fellow again. 

“Oh yes, sure, sure I can help! What do ya need, lass? And come on, come on, follow me! this place ain’t good for talkin’, take it from me!” the old guy replied and then started to walk - well, more like wobble - off along the path.

About thirty minutes later, Dipper and Mabel found themselves in a small run down cottage, just on the outskirts of the town, and were dressed in some old rags. The old man, McGucket was his name, had also handed them some ‘tea’, which was really just hot water, and had them sit down at his table. 

Dipper set his cup aside, all the while glaring at Mabel. It was kind of her fault that they were stuck here now, since she just had to accept that friendly invitation.

“Don’t look at me like that! At least we got some clothes. Plus we might get some actual information.” she whispered, rolling her eyes.

“Out of that guy? Mabel, he’s nuts! He said he has a raccoon wife. And I don’t even know what a raccoon is.” Dipper grumbled in return but looked up when McGucket came back over to the table.

“So whaddaya kids doing here again?” he asked while taking off his hat and scratching himself.

Dipper set his cup of ‘tea’ down and sighed. “We’re looking for someone. A friend, so to say. You don’t know where the navy puts prisoners, per chance?” he asked, looking intently at the old guy.

“I sure do! Into the prison those bad souls go, until the day a their execution. Unless they’re not gonna get executed - but mostly everyone here does. The people just looove to watch a good ‘ol hangin’.” the man snickered and grinned at them. Well, that was certainly not disturbing at all.

“Do you know a Bill Cipher?” Mabel asked, earning a facepalm from Dipper. She didn’t have to mention his name!

“Oh I sure know the beale cipher!” came the reply which left both of them puzzled.

“No, no. Not beale. Bill. He’s a pirate!” Mabel quickly shut him down, as it looked like he was going to elaborate on whatever he had meant to say. The old man didn’t say anything for a moment, just looked thoughtful. Then his expression became guarded.

“Bill Cipher, ye say? Sounds familiar. But I gotta admit that I can’t really remember much o’ the ol’ days at all. It’s all really more of a blur. A pirate, eh? Blond hair, one eye? Triangles?” Dipper’s eyes widened and he jumped up putting his hands on the table and nodding vigorously.

“Yes. That’s him.” he exclaimed.

“Well, I can tell you only that much: he’s not human! He’s a monster I say. Don’t get too close to him is what the people say! He’s got a way a manipulatin’ everyone around him. That’s all I know, why do a bunch a young sirens want to know about that though?” McGucket asked and sipped his tea, seemingly immune to the hot temperature.

The expression on Dipper’s face fell. Where was all that coming from? Not human? A monster? He could hardly believe that. Well, sure. Bill was a pirate and he had probably done some bad things in the past but he had never really seemed like a straight up monster to Dipper. 

“Well, thanks for the advice! We’re just curious about a few things. Could you also tell us where exactly we can find the prison you spoke of?” Mabel said, keeping her nice face. If the words had affected her at all, she didn’t gave any indication of it. That frustrated Dipper even more.

“I sure can show ya, but why don’t ya wait for the hangin they scheduled? It’s in three days! Let me show ya the town. The prison ain’t all that interestin’ anyways.” the old man hummed. Dipper could have sworn he had seen some kind of intent in the other’s eyes, although it was hard to tell, since he mostly just seemed really out of his mind.

“Sorry, but we kinda have to find our friend really fast.” Dipper just said, getting up and starting towards the door.

“Dipper, wait! The sun’s already setting. We can’t find our way through the town at night.” Mabel protested and jumped up as well. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right The sun was already going down, tinting the sky into a warm orange hue. Dipper’s heart ached.

“I’d really advise ya two to wait a few days. Tensions in the town are high and ya both are not really lookin like ye belong. The town’s scared of monsters.” McGucket hummed. Once again, Dipper had the feeling the guy wasn’t as insane as he seemed at first. 

“Why are you helping us anyways? You don’t know us.” Dipper asked, sounding suspicious as he sat back down at the table, next to his hatch-mate. 

“Well ya remind me a someone I think I used to work with. I don’t really remember anythin’ though! It’s just a hunch!” the old man chuckled, leaving Mabel and Dipper more puzzled than ever. This guy had some serious memory issues but he did know about sirens and Dipper was certain that he was hiding something. But he decided that it wasn’t important and that he’d much rather focus on getting Bill free.

When he lay on the mattress he shared with his sister that night he wondered if it was Bill that they were going to execute in three days. This night he dreamt he was too late.

The next two days could be considered frustrating at the very least. The old man insisted on them staying a little bit longer, using the excuse that no one ever visited him. Of course it worked wonders on Mabel. She felt so bad for him that they indeed did decide to stay longer while McGucket showed them around town. They were always careful not to stand out of the crowd too much and most people seemed familiar enough with McGucket to just keep away from him.

At least he really did show them the prison on the first day, making it pretty obvious why McGucket had insisted that they’d wait. It was heavily guarded and the people in front even had guns. There was no way they could just break in there. As soon as they would start to sing the town would know who they were and the risk of getting shot first was too high. 

They did overhear some people talking about the big execution of Bill Cipher though while they were strolling through a busy marketplace and managed to develop a decent plan. 

Mabel and Dipper quietly practiced a song that would let the listeners freeze and make them unable to move. It worked rather well on McGucket when they tried it. They apologized afterwards. Luckily McGucket just laughed it off and slapped both of them on the back, saying they had lovely voices.

They didn’t talk about Bill again. 

\---

The sky was grey and thunder could already be heard in the distance as Mabel and Dipper made their way through the crowd in front of the gallows that booed and called Bill other terrible things. It was hard for Dipper not to just rip everyone to shreds that he came close to. 

“What if it starts raining? Dip, we’re screwed then.” Mabel whispered as they stopped in the middle of the crowd, looking up at the podium. 

“Then we just have to hurry.” he hissed back and took her hand, lacing their fingers. He could not stand to watch Bill and the executioner another minute. The rope was already tight around the pirate’s neck.

Dipper squeezed Mabel’s hand and then they started singing. He could feel everyone around him freeze. For a moment he was alarmed that this spell might have actually worked on Bill too, because he was not moving Just staring at them. Then e finally snapped back to life and not even a minute later he was climbing down the podium, stumbling towards them.

It felt so good to finally hold Bill’s hand again, even if he looked terrible from his days on the ship and later in prison. Mabel started running, pushing people out of the way, while Dipper and Bill quickly followed.

Dipper’s heart raced as they made their way to different alleys and he could hear the mop starting to realize what had happened, running after them. 

“You owe me, Cipher!” he hissed, even though he felt anything but happy to have him back.

“Anything for you, star child, I knew you’d come.” Bill answered and, when Dipper glanced back, he could only see pure affection in Bill’s eyes. 

The siren felt his cheeks light up a bit and a small smile formed on his lips. He knew if they made it out of town, they would be safe soon.

And maybe Bill would finally join him forever.


	19. Seaworthy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for them feels. Also please read the notes at the end! Thanks and have fun with this last chapter!

The thunder rolled in the distance and the sky turned ever darker as the two sirens and the convicted pirate dashed through the streets. Bill’s eyes flicked up to the sky knowing that they were screwed if it started to rain. It didn’t help that his hands were still shackled but so far they didn’t have an opportunity to stop running. The days of capture had taken a toll on the man though and he could already feel his lungs starting to give in and his legs grew weaker.

Dipper seemed to notice this, as his pull grew stronger on Bill’s hand.

“Come on, we can’t stop.” the boy hissed through his teeth and Bill scoffed, wanting to spit something back, but he knew Dipper was right. So they went on, running through the small alleys and crowded streets in the hope that they could get rid of the mob following them. Bill could faintly hear Tad screaming his name from somewhere behind them.

“Where are we even going?” he gasped after a while. He really wouldn’t be able to run for much longer.

“To a friend!” Mabel chimed from the front and then stopped. Dipper skidded to a halt, almost running into her.

“What are you doing?” he snarled anxiously. Bill took the moment to lean against the siren and caught his breath.

“You go on. I’ll distract them. Bill’s not gonna make it otherwise.” Mabel quickly said. Bill liked the sound of that. Dipper apparently didn’t.

“That’s too dangerous.” he insisted and shook his head.

“No, it’s not. It’s more dangerous for us to stay together. Besides I doubt they can withstand my magic.” she giggled and then ran past them, back from where they came. “We’ll meet at McGuckets place!” she called back. Then she had vanished behind a corner.

“Come on, Dipper.” Bill mumbled and straightened himself again, starting to walk on.

“I can’t.. I can’t lose her.” Dipper hissed, starting to walk after her to Bill’s amazement. He reached out again and grabbed the siren’s wrist.

“Don’t be stupid! She can fight for herself!” he insisted and now it was his turn to drag Dipper along, even if he didn’t know where they were going. At first Dipper seemed almost aggressive and whipped around to face Bill, but one moment of intense eye contact seemed to change his mind. The boy’s blue eyes softened again and he took a deep breath. 

“Alright, you’re both right. Come on Bill.” he sighed before taking the lead again. Relief flooded through the pirate. 

It took them little more than ten other minutes to reach the edge of the town, a small and dilapidated shack becoming visible in the distance. In that moment the sky broke loose, heavy raindrops fell from the sky and Dipper gasped, starting to run again. They were so close to their goal when Dipper fell, almost dragging Bill down with him, since they were still holding hands.

Bill groaned and turned around to look down at Dipper. It was almost a miserable sight. He was pretty much covered in mud and his vibrant blue tail lay uselessly on the ground. The boy’s shoulders were shaking and his face spoke of pure frustration.

The pirate fell on his knees in front of him and gently took Dipper’s face into his hands. Dipper avoided eye contact and Bill could see tears glistening in his eyes, probably from embarrassment.

“I can’t believe you're putting yourself through all this trouble for me. Are you stupid?” Bill huffed, trying to crack a smile.

“I must be the most idiotic siren to ever exist, yes.” Dipper replied, blinking the unshed tears away. He then reached up with one clawed hand and worked on the shackles, managing to break them off after three minutes of work. Bill rubbed his wrists, making a face. They still hurt but at least he could move again. He immediately scooped Dipper up into his arms, not really caring if he got dirty in the process. He was pretty much a wreck anyway.

The texture of Dipper’s tail made him feel a bit weird, since it was such an odd mix of fishy scales, yet a somewhat human feel. His tail was not cold, as to be expected from a fish, but rather warm.

“Oh god… Mabel.” Dipper mumbled close to Bill’s ear, while wrapping his arms around the pirate’s neck.

“I’m sure she’s found shelter. Don’t worry, she’s smarter than you.” Bill replied, earning an offended look from the siren. He laughed. While walking up to the house, he hugged Dipper closer and the boy let out a squeak of surprise, which he quickly tried to hide through awkward coughing. Adorable. 

“I love you, Dipper.” Bill said as they had almost reached the house and his voice was so low that the words were almost drowned out by the rain and thunder. But Dipper must have caught them anyway because he could feel the siren stare at him. Before the boy could answer though the door flew open and an old man stepped outside.

“Come in, come in!! Before ol’ poseidon washes you away with this downpour!” the stranger cackled. Bill frowned. This guy seemed familiar but he had never really seen him before, right? Whatever this sudden realization was, he pushed these thoughts away and quickly stepped inside the house, shaking himself. He was completely drenched and his hair hung into his face.

The weird old guy shuffled through the house and before Bill could even get a word out there were two blankets tossed right in his face. He almost dropped Dipper out of surprise. 

“Thanks.” he grumbled and walked over to a couch, that looked like it would fall apart any minute, and sat down, placing the siren in his lap. Dipper had held onto the blankets, passing one over to Bill now, which he used to dry off his hair a little. 

“You must be that fishy’s friend! Funny. Ya also look familiar.” the old guy said with that annoying raspy voice of his. Bill narrowed his eyes but then shrugged.

“His name’s William, by the way. William, that’s McGucket.” Dipper exclaimed as Bill opened his mouth. Now he stared at Dipper with an eyebrow raised, but didn’t complain. He must have had his reasons. It wasn’t far from the truth.

“Yeah. Nice to meet you. Thanks for saving our butts.” Bill grinned. He did catch the suspicion in the old man’s eye though. It was gone as quickly as he had noticed. 

“Well, imma make us some tea!” McGucket almost yelled and scurried off into the ’kitchen’ in the corner of the room.

“Really, tea is just hot water.” Dipper mumbled to Bill and rolled his eyes. The end of his tail flicked a little in obvious irritation.

“William, huh? How’d you guess my real name?” Bill dismissed the comment and stared at Dipper instead, his expression rather amused though. He rested one of his hands on the blanket that lay over Dipper’s tail and started to dry him off. That seemed to cause some discomfort in the boy but he knew he’d transform back sooner or later. 

The siren’s cheeks grew a bit redder and he scratched the back of his head.

“Well, McGucket said some things about Bill Cipher and I didn’t want him to freak out. His memory isn’t the best so he probably didn’t recognize you as ‘the monster’.” Bill noticed the silent accusation in Dipper’s tone. He frowned. Did the boy really think he was a monster just because of the rumors spread about him? Yes, he had been ruthless in the past but had he not yet shown Dipper that he really cared?

“Do you think I’m a monster?” he asked quietly and brought his face close to the siren’s. Dipper’s fins flicked downward almost nervously and he laughed awkwardly.

“Not much more of one than I am.” he answered. Bill just stared at him for a few seconds but then smiled and rubbed their noses together. Dipper giggled a bit only to groan a second later, starting to squirm on his lap. The transformation must have begun. Bill loosened his grip a little, but kept Dipper steady. It was a little weird to sit like this but he had decided that he would try to get over himself and give the kid the comfort he needed. 

McGucket returned with some steaming cups, that were really just filled with hot water, about ten minutes later. Just after he had set the cups down on a wobbly table, the door was thrown open. Everyone whipped their head towards the open door only to sigh in relief as they saw Mabel standing there. The girl quickly rushed inside, closing the door behind her.

“I see you didn’t get out of the rain as fast as I did.” she snorted while watching her hatch-mate squirm in misery. Dipper gave her a death stare in return.

Bill chuckled, watching the girl flop down next to him on the couch and catching her breath. It looked like she had been running a lot.

“What’d you do to these poor men?” Bill asked her and he grinned. 

“I sang them into prison and locked them up in a free cell! They stood no chance. I think this Tad guy was especially pissed at the turn of events.” she explained, Bill breaking into laughter. 

“Well, they got what they deserved!” he hummed. He could feel Dipper’s tail split into legs again, which prompted him to look at his lover. Dipper’s expression changed from a pained to a relieved one and Bill couldn’t help himself and ran a hand through the boy’s brown hair.

“We need to leave soon nonetheless. We can’t stay at this place forever and they will probably get help soon.” Mabel added but smiled at both of them. 

“We can steal my Ship back from them! It’s somewhere in the harbour. But I can’t take it without help.” Bill proposed. He frowned though when he saw the sirens look at each other, almost as if uncomfortable. Then Dipper cleared his throat and spoke up.

“We… I mean, I kind of hoped you might wanted to come with us. Into the sea that is.” he said and looked nervously up at Bill. For a moment the pirate didn’t understand. 

“How the hell am I supposed to live in the sea? Do I look like a fish to you?” he huffed, frowning at him. Dipper wrung his hands.

“We have a spell that can turn you into a siren. I was going to propose that on the island but then you got taken away..” his voice trailed off. The moments went by as Bill just stared at him, trying to figure out if this was some kind of joke. The silence stretched into an uncomfortable length.

“You want me to become a siren?” he asked, deadpanned. That seemed like the dumbest idea ever thought of. How could he just throw his entire life away? He didn’t even know what it meant to be a siren. Sure, he wanted to be with Dipper but it had never once occurred to him that this could be a possibility. 

“Do you not want to?” Dipper finally broke the silence, pulling Bill out of his thoughts. Bill looked at him and he could tell that Dipper was terrified of his answer, even if he tried to hide it.

“Star child, I don’t know if I can. I’m a pirate, not a siren.” Bill sighed, resting his hand on Dipper’s cheek. His lover leaned into the touch and then reached up to rest his own hand on top of Bill’s.

“We can teach you. You wouldn’t need to run from anyone anymore. And we could be together.” for some reason, the latter argument made his insides twist and he wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. 

Yes, he had just admitted to loving the boy, but he still was not entirely sure if what he felt even was love. He’d never felt this way before in his life and it was just confusing. Even now, a small part of him just wanted to run away again and force himself to forget the siren, but he decided against it.

He would never know what he really wanted if he didn’t try everything. And it really was true, that if he lived underwater, he could not really be charged and hanged again. He took a deep breath and made up his mind. 

“Well, this is probably the dumbest decision i’ve ever made in my life, but fine. I’ll come with you.” he answered. A loud screech made both him and Dipper flinch and both of them glared at Mabel.

“I’m sorry, that’s just so adorable! I can’t wait to show you everything. Oh and you definitely need to meet pacifica. I bet she’ll be so interested in your stories!” the girl babbled before Dipper reached out to slap his hand over her mouth.

“Jeez, relax.” he groaned and Bill laughed. 

“Sure thing, Shooting Star.” he said and flashed both of them a grin. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

After finishing the ‘tea’ Bill, Mabel and Dipper departed from McGucket and made their way back to the place where the siren’s had apparently come onto the land. Mabel was the first back in the water. Dipper followed soon after and Bill hesitated before he undressed, and waded into the water. It felt cold on his skin and he shuddered a little, almost starting to regret his decision again.

Before his mind could convince him to run away again though, Dipper swam close to him and took his hands. 

“Don’t worry. This spell involves no kissing.” the boy chuckled, making Bill realize again that he was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to him and he would be stupid if he gave all of this up, just because he was conflicted.

“Then stop hesitating and do it, Star Child. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” he replied and laced their fingers together.  
With a small nod, Dipper closed his eyes and started to sing a soothing melody, soon laced with words in an ancient language far beyond Bill’s comprehension. He could feel a tingling sensation run through his body, both uncomfortable and oddly exciting at the same time. The water around him began to glow a little.

When his body started to transform it was hard not to panic. Thankfully Dipper had moved from holding his hands to wrapping them around his waist instead, holding him steady. Then his legs gave out under him and he sank into the water completely. He shut his eyes and gasped for air, surprised to find that he could indeed breathe underwater. 

The spell was still ringing in his ears as his legs fused together. 

He must’ve blacked out at some point, because when he opened his eyes again the blinding light as well as the pain he had felt during the transformation was gone. Instead he lay on the ground, the surface a few meters above him. 

“Dipper! I think he woke up again!” Mabel’s voice was even more beautiful underwater. Then Dipper swam into his sight, his expression full of excitement and admiration.

“Bill, you’re stunning. I’ve never seen such a colour in our colony!” Dipper breathed out, finally prompting Bill to take a look at himself.

His eyes widened as he carefully sat up and saw his tail. It was a bright golden colour that matched his hair. He reached up with a hand to feel at his ears and sure enough they were now fins, matching Dipper’s.

“Shit, I really am amazing.” he said, finding that his voice sounded clearer than before. Before he could move Dipper had grabbed his hands and pulled him upwards. The urge to use his hands while swimming was very strong but he found that using that pretty new tail of his wasn’t as hard as he had thought at first.

“I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone!” Dipper exclaimed, throwing his arms around Bill’s neck. For a moment he looked like he was going to kiss him but then he just rubbed their noses together, like Bill had done earlier.

“Well, we should probably not waste any more time then!” Mabel cheered. “Last one home is a sea slug!” she exclaimed and swam off, deeper into the blue. 

Dipper was about to follow her but Bill held him back.

“Star child, wait.” he said, earning a confused look. It made him smile. Being with Dipper in his own element was kind of amazing and maybe it was the spur of the moment or maybe it even was the atmosphere, created by the setting sun, that made him feel like this. Whatever it was, Bill leaned in and pressed his lips to Dipper’s, wrapping his arms tightly around the other as his tail snaked around Dipper’s.

He could feel Dipper’s heart beat speeding up, their chests pressed together, but after a moment of shock, the boy returned the embrace, as well as the kiss. 

“I love you so much.” Dipper whispered as their lips departed and Bill smiled at his boyfriend.

“I love you too.” he replied. “Now let’s get going or else Shooting Star won’t shut up about winning.” he added.

Bill grabbed Dipper’s hand again and they started racing after Mabel.

“Don’t get used to the kissing though, I don’t know what bit me there.” Bill chuckled as they got farther and farther away from the land and his old life.

Dipper laughed, air bubbles rising to the surface far above them.

“I wouldn’t have expected anything else.” 

 

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. That's the end of Out of the Blue. 
> 
> I can't believe this fic got as popular as it did and I am incrediby thankful for every single reader and the nice comments I got. This fanfic is what ultimately made me want to pursue a carreer in writing. Without all of you awesome fans though it could not have gone as good as it did! I also want to especially thank my lovely editors, Ara and Meg. Without them this fic would have been littered with way more mistakes as it is now and they helped me improve on my english wording!
> 
> Now there are still a lot of open questions and things that have not been explained in this fanfic. I have planned a sequel but I can't really confirm yet when I will get to write/upload it. I have the prologue and chapter 1 but due to some personal things I have started to slip out of the billdip fandom a little bit. Plus I want to concentrate on Nanowrimo next month, where I will be writing my firs OC story. This will probably not be uploaded here though. I will try to continue writing Into troubled waters but I just wanted to give you a headsup that it could be a while before I upload it. I will of course continue the containment AU though! :)
> 
> Thank you all so much for your support and I hope you'll stay for future projects <3333

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [And now the rains weep o'er Bill's hall](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7413280) by [thebestdayisme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebestdayisme/pseuds/thebestdayisme)




End file.
